In the cramped apartment building, the hallway was filled with all kinds of noisy chatter. Inside the rooms came the sounds of children crying and fussing. Xu Meili found it all irritating. So when her brother, Xu Qiang, asked about what had happened that day, she spoke particularly harshly.
“Brother, that woman Bai Li blew things up. She usually seems so soft and weak. Who would have thought she could be so ruthless at a critical moment?”
Thinking about how Bai Li had beaten her earlier that day, Xu Meili felt sore all over. What was worse, the factory had actually sided with that slut. Not only did they fine her and deduct her bonus, but they also punished her by making her clean the factory’s public toilets for a month. If she performed poorly during this month, the factory had the right to fire her. On top of that, it would go on her file, making it difficult for her to advance in title in the future.
Fired! Go ask around—what decent work unit would fire a permanent worker? She had only wanted to trick Bai Li into coming home. That slut refused—fine—but to turn around and bite her like this?
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Xu Meili screamed at the still-crying infant, “Cry, cry, cry, you worthless money-loser! Cry one more time, and I’ll throw you in the public toilet!”
As soon as she said this, the crying baby seemed to understand and suddenly stopped.
Seeing how angry his sister was, Xu Qiang remained very calm.
“This Bai Li, you said she was easy to control, came from a good family, and could be tricked into coming here to look after the kids. Well, it didn’t work out. So forget it. Besides, didn’t you say her family has many daughters? Her married eldest sister also gave birth to two daughters? A family like that probably only has the fate of producing daughters.”
That’s what he said, but no one really knew what Xu Qiang was truly thinking.
——
The next morning, Xu Qiang went to work as usual, acting as if nothing had happened.
The steel mill and the textile factory were quite far apart, so no one at the steel mill knew what had happened there.
But when Xu Qiang saw Xu Jianbei arrive at the technical department with a man who looked like him, his expression changed slightly.
After his second brother had brought up the issue of steel materials the day before, Xu Jianbei had first taken his second brother to the screw factory early that morning. After obtaining all the necessary documents, the two brothers headed straight to the steel mill.
Unexpectedly, the first person they saw when they arrived at the technical department was Xu Qiang.
Xu Jianbei was a regular visitor to the steel mill’s technical department. Cao Changsheng also worked there. But the technical department was divided into many different groups. There were both technical workers and administrative staff. Xu Qiang’s group had no work overlap with Xu Jianbei. So before yesterday, Xu Jianbei’s impression of Xu Qiang had been just a face.
But after yesterday, he knew this person was named Xu Qiang, had a sister named Xu Meili who worked at the textile factory, and that sister had tried to trick Bai Lan’s second sister. And it was highly likely that Xu Qiang knew about it.
So when the other man greeted him proactively, Xu Jianbei only nodded and barely acknowledged him. Seeing this, Xu Qiang’s expression turned sour.
Soon, Cao Changsheng appeared and led the two Xu brothers straight to the technical department head’s office.
Seeing this, Xu Qiang curiously asked the others in the office, “What are those two doing at the factory? I didn’t hear anything about the screw factory having any orders.”
“Oh, Xu Jianbei? Apparently, there’s an order from the south for the screw factory. The screw factory is missing some special kind of steel material.”
The steel produced by the steel mill could be subdivided into various types based on impurity content, hardness, wear resistance, and so on. As for the screws produced by the screw factory, the ordinary ones were fine. But screws for special purposes required custom-made steel with specific properties.
This required coordination between different factories.
Upon hearing about an order from the south, Xu Qiang’s expression changed slightly. He smiled, changed the subject, and started chatting about other things.
——
Meanwhile, when Bai Lan arrived at work that morning, she was naturally asked again about her second sister hitting someone. Bai Lan explained the whole situation, and since the factory had already issued a public notice of criticism the day before, not many people gossiped about it. However, some felt that given Bai Li’s personality and circumstances, she was actually a good match for Xu Meili’s eldest brother.
When Bai Lan heard such comments, they were naturally met with a fierce rebuke. As for those who said that with her personality, Second Sister would likely encounter similar situations again in the future—
This did worry Bai Lan a little. Yesterday, Eldest Sister had come to see her and said that the reason Second Sister had found the courage to stand up and say no was because she’d been inspired by Eldest Sister’s courage in getting a divorce.
Bai Lan strongly agreed with this reason. Indeed, Eldest Sister Bai Lian’s decision to divorce was, by 1970s standards, the mark of a truly smart woman.
So, Bai Lan hoped that Bai Li wouldn’t just learn Eldest Sister’s courage, but also her way of handling things.
She thought this matter was temporarily over. But then, in the evening, Xu Qiang showed up with Xu Meili, carrying a pile of gifts, to apologize.
——
When the Xu siblings arrived, Bai Lan was eating dinner at her in-laws’ home. Hearing the commotion outside, she put down her chopsticks and went out. Just in time to see Xu Meili’s mouth rattling on about something.
The other woman immediately spotted Bai Lan and shot her a provocative smile.
Bai Lan narrowed her eyes but didn’t get angry. She never let trashy people get to her. But what exactly were these Xu siblings doing here?
Soon, Bai Lan found out. They had come to apologize.
——
“Apologize? Not accepted. Stay far away from our family from now on. Even if my daughter never marries, she won’t marry into a family like yours.”
Bai Lan’s father stood under the eaves with his arms crossed, glaring down at the two siblings.
Xu Qiang put on a fawning expression and said, “Uncle, it was all a misunderstanding. My sister is young and naive. She was just worried about my children at home, which is why she made a mistake. You’re a magnanimous person. Please forgive her for being young and foolish.”
With that, Xu Qiang extended the gifts he was carrying toward Bai Lan’s father.
The items included canned fruit, White Rabbit creamy candies, and most valuable of all—a piece of pork belly weighing about five catties.
This was no small gift. Many neighbors were tempted at the sight of such generous offerings. But they all knew the Bai family didn’t lack for food, so no one tried to persuade them otherwise. Still, they secretly lamented—why couldn’t Xu Meili have offended their family instead? If she had, they might have hit the jackpot.
“Get lost…” Bai Lan’s father said once more. As his voice fell, Bai Baowei and Xu Jianbei also stepped forward.
With both the son and son-in-law appearing, Xu Qiang finally understood that the Bai family truly had no interest in his generous gifts.
He then turned to Xu Jianbei. “Comrade Xu, we met this morning! You know me—I’m not a bad person. What happened yesterday was indeed my sister’s fault. I…”
Xu Jianbei waved him off. “Xu Qiang, the factory has already made its ruling. Stop pestering them here. If you really are a decent person, just stay far away from the Bai family…”
With both of them taking such a firm stance, Xu Qiang knew there was no room for negotiation.
He sighed, nodded to the Bai family, and then led Xu Meili away.
“That man seems quite polite,” many people praised Xu Qiang’s behavior.
Bai Lan rolled her eyes on the spot. She thought to herself, how nauseating—this guy pretending to be so virtuous.
——
The Xu siblings hadn’t even made it out of the hutong when they ran right into Su Xiaomei.
Su Xiaomei had secretly taken some meat she’d skimmed from her in-laws’ house to her own family’s home earlier, which was why she was coming back late. She was in a hurry, afraid of missing dinner at home. But just as she neared the communal courtyard, someone collided with her and knocked her to the ground.
Before she could even get up, she started screaming at Xu Meili, who had run into her. “Are you blind? Can’t you see a grown woman standing right there?”
Xu Meili wasn’t one to back down either. She immediately raised her foot to kick Su Xiaomei.
But just as she lifted her foot, Xu Qiang put on an apologetic smile. “Comrade, I’m really sorry. My sister didn’t mean it. Are you hurt?”
With that, Xu Qiang helped Su Xiaomei up from the ground.
This caught Su Xiaomei completely off guard. Then she felt her arm being held by Xu Qiang and was about to scream that he was harassing her.
But the next moment, Xu Qiang let go and shoved the gifts he was carrying into Su Xiaomei’s hands.
“These are an apology gift for you. I hope you’re not hurt.”
Having said that, Xu Qiang turned and walked away with Xu Meili, looking rather dashing.
Su Xiaomei had never experienced anything like this before. She was completely stunned. But a few seconds later, feeling the heavy gifts in her hands and seeing that glistening, beautiful piece of pork belly, her heart was bursting with joy.
——
Bai Lan was just about to ladle out some soup when she looked up and saw Su Xiaomei slipping back from outside, clutching a pile of things like a thief, and heading straight into her own room.
This struck Bai Lan as very strange. Although she hadn’t lived there long, she knew Su Xiaomei well—this woman felt uncomfortable if she didn’t get something for nothing. Ever since Xu Jianxi had returned, the family had had meat at every meal. Normally, Su Xiaomei would have run straight to the dinner table the moment she got home.
But Bai Lan didn’t have to wait long. That night, after everyone had gone back to their rooms to rest, the sound of pots and pans clattering came from the kitchen.
Miao Daju thought a thief had broken in. She opened her door and saw Su Xiaomei cutting meat in the kitchen.
Under the dim yellow light, the fatty pork belly looked especially tempting.
“Where did this meat come from?” Miao Daju, as the family cook, knew immediately that this piece of meat hadn’t come from their household.
“Su Xiaomei was startled but still stiffened her neck and said, ‘My family gave it to me.’”
Not even a ghost would believe that. But it was late and cold, and Miao Daju really didn’t have the energy to argue with this wretch.
Bai Lan heard the commotion between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law loud and clear. She turned to Xu Jianbei and joked, “Could your sister-in-law’s pork belly have come from Xu Qiang?”
She said it teasingly at first, but then her mind started racing, and the more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
That pork belly had only appeared twice that day. Xu Qiang left, and Su Xiaomei came back right after. Maybe her guess was right.
Xu Jianbei followed Bai Lan’s train of thought. After a moment, he said, “It’s possible. But what was Xu Qiang’s goal in giving things to her?”
That part didn’t quite add up.
Bai Lan set that topic aside for now and asked about Xu Jianbei’s visit to the steel mill that day.
“I didn’t see Song Guoping, but I heard Bai Ping hasn’t been showing up much lately.”
After saying a few words about the Song family, Xu Jianbei brought up his second brother’s screw.
“I saw the design. It’s extremely precise—doesn’t look like something for an ordinary boat. I can’t go into details. Once the steel mill supplies the materials, I may need to stay at the factory for a while, working overtime to get those screws made.”
Bai Lan nodded. She could go with him then. After all, their family had a one-room apartment assigned at the screw factory. Thinking about this, she also felt that her second brother seemed rather mysterious—a character who hadn’t appeared in the original story. And now, the things he’d brought out were clearly not ordinary.
So, was her second brother, like characters in those stories about that era, engaged in some kind of confidential work?
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