“Morning…”
“Morning…”
As Bai Lian walked toward her office, she greeted everyone she met along the way. Some people responded to her, but others awkwardly turned their heads away and pretended not to hear, as if she were a jinx. That was how she had been treated at the factory ever since the divorce.
But she didn’t mind. Some people acted as if she were invisible, but others still interacted with her normally. She couldn’t ignore those who showed her goodwill just because of the ones who didn’t.
Bai Lian didn’t think there was anything wrong with her divorce. So she stuck to her usual habits and remained kind to others.
Once inside the office, the treatment she received became even more polarized.
There were a total of 12 employees in the Women’s Federation office: eight middle-aged women and four young women. The young women treated her just as they always had. Some even secretly sympathized with her. But among the eight middle-aged women, six firmly believed she was a disgrace to women. They thought it was shameless of her to still show up for work at the Women’s Federation after getting divorced.
Bai Lian chose to ignore this situation.
After all, most of the time, the work here was fairly light. Especially since her divorce, women had stopped coming to her for help with mediation or anything else.
“Oh my, the model of the times, the awakened voice of female power. How come you’re still working in a little place like this? The city’s Women’s Federation is really missing out on talent like yours.”
A sarcastic voice rang out. Bai Lian looked up and saw it was the deputy director. She simply acted as if she hadn’t heard.
The deputy director had issued the letter of introduction on the day of the divorce, but only because the director had insisted. Unable to do anything about the director, the deputy director had taken her anger out on Bai Lian instead. These past few days, she had been acting as if Bai Lian didn’t exist.
Now, suddenly launching into this long tirade, Bai Lian found it completely baffling.
Seeing Bai Lian’s reaction, the deputy director assumed she was playing dumb and grew even more displeased. “Hmph, I’ve never seen someone so brazen. Not only do you not lie low after a divorce, but you even write an article for the newspaper so the whole country knows you got divorced. Is that something to be proud of?”
—
Getting raked over the coals like that first thing in the morning—even someone as good-tempered as Bai Lian felt her anger flaring up.
“Deputy Director, if you have an issue with me, you can take it up with the leadership. But stop with the sarcasm. It just makes you look very unprofessional.”
The deputy director let out a cold laugh and directly slammed the newspaper in her hand onto Bai Lian’s desk.
“See for yourself! The author of this article is Bai Ping. And I seem to recall that you have a younger sister named Bai Ping. Ha! Getting your little sister to write a newspaper article glorifying your divorce—well, I’ve lived long enough to see everything!”
“That’s enough! This is an office, a place for work. Stop discussing other matters here.”
Just then, the director’s angry shout from the doorway made the deputy director immediately shut up. It also made the other office workers, who had been enjoying the drama, shrink their necks.
“Bai Lian, take the newspaper and come with me.”
With that final instruction, the director entered her own office.
Bai Lian didn’t respond. Her eyes were already fixed on the Northern City Women’s Newspaper in front of her. There, taking up half a page, was a report about her divorce.
Most of the language in the article praised her bravery, calling her a representative figure of marital freedom, a model of the times, and an example for women.
An article full of such glowing compliments, yet it sent a chill down Bai Lian’s spine.
She was furious! The truth was, after the divorce, she had been keeping a low profile. Not because she was ashamed, but because she was worried about people gossiping and pointing fingers at her two daughters.
Many neighbors in the compound didn’t say anything openly, but they talked about her divorce behind her back. Bai Lian didn’t really mind, because most of them had enough sense not to bring it up directly in front of her daughters.
Nearly half a month had passed, and the gossip was finally dying down. Now, with this article, she wouldn’t just be known nationwide—at the very least, her name would be remembered all across Northern City.
It was the kind of fame Bai Lian did not want.
—
Once she stepped into the director’s office and heard what the director had to say, Bai Lian felt even more humiliated.
“To be honest, this article says nothing but good things about you. But too much fame won’t do your current life any favors. So my advice is to keep a low profile. If you’re worried about office gossip these next couple of days, I can approve two days off for you. Use the time to sort things out at home.”
The director had eaten far more salt than Bai Lian had eaten rice. She knew instinctively that Bai Lian most likely had no idea about this article.
That meant the problem came from Bai Lian’s family. She needed to fix this leak quickly, before an even bigger mess surfaced.
The director herself was exasperated by the article. Before coming to work, she had already received calls at home from several counterpart Women’s Federation directors at other organizations. Every single one of them was questioning the piece.
What could Bai Lian possibly say? She could only nod and express her gratitude, already thinking that she might as well take time off today and go find Bai Ping to ask why she had done something like this.
—
Over at the steel plant, the other person affected by this, besides Bai Lian, was Qin Shengli.
But Qin Shengli had taken on an assignment right after the divorce—delivering a batch of steel to the northwest. He hadn’t returned yet, so he hadn’t felt the impact. The rest of the Qin family, however, all wished they could bury their faces and disappear.
Although the article didn’t explicitly criticize the Qin family, if one side of a divorce is being praised as a model of the times, doesn’t that make the other side the villain?
“How disgusting! A model of the times? Hah! A divorced woman, instead of hiding at home, actually dares to appear in the newspaper!”
Aunt Zhao had just gone out to buy groceries that morning, and when she returned, the steel plant workers were all staring at her. These were uneducated people who could barely read a few characters and never made a habit of reading newspapers. Yet today, every single one of them had a copy of the paper, shoving it in her face and telling her that the Qin family had made the news!
At first, Aunt Zhao thought it was something good. But when she listened, it turned out that Bai Lian—that divorced woman—was being praised as some kind of female representative. Bah! If all the women in the world followed her example and got divorced, the world would be doomed!
“Exactly! Tsk, tsk! Sister Zhao, your family must have had the worst luck imaginable, marrying a daughter-in-law like that.”
Just as Aunt Zhao was losing her temper, Aunt Cai, who had been tagging along, began fanning the flames.
Aunt Zhao had run into Aunt Cai while grocery shopping. Hearing this, she nodded vigorously and started pouring out her grievances.
Aunt Cai listened, nodding along sympathetically, tossing in a few insults about the Bai family. Then she began quietly fishing for information about the rest of the Bais. Once she had found out everything she wanted to know, Aunt Cai didn’t forget to offer some terrible advice:
“Sister Zhao, we’ve been good sisters for so long. Let me tell you—your Shengli got the short end of the stick here, but he’s also lucky. Lucky to have divorced such a troublemaker. Before she changes her mind, you should find him a new wife! With your family’s standing, even a young virgin would be fighting to marry into your household!”
Aunt Zhao was naturally drawn to Aunt Cai’s suggestion. She did want her son to remarry quickly so the Qin family line could continue.
With that thought, Aunt Zhao perked up again. She rubbed her hands together, ready to find her son a good match. And this time, she had to find one who could bear sons!
Hearing this, Aunt Cai smiled with satisfaction. Hmph! Bai Lan dared to get her fired from the factory. Then she would make sure the Bai family’s household was never at peace.
Thinking about her own family’s struggles these past couple of days, Aunt Cai couldn’t help the redness creeping into her eyes. She stared at the byline on the newspaper article, her eyes glaring so hard they looked like they might bleed.
—
Bai Lan had no idea that Aunt Cai, already kicked out of the factory, was quietly plotting more trouble.
Right now, she was also stunned by the article in the Women’s Newspaper.
The newspaper had been delivered by the Security Department. The factory’s newspapers were always sent by the post office to the guardhouse, then distributed to each department. Qin Yan’s father, Uncle Qin, was the head of the Security Department. He had happened to see the article that morning while inspecting the guardhouse. Immediately, he ordered someone to bring a copy to Bai Lan.
At the same time, he didn’t forget to call Bai Lan’s father at his workplace.
“Now that the article is out, who knows what the fallout will be? If there’s any gossip at the factory, you’d better be careful,” Uncle Qin said kindly before leaving.
Bai Lan thanked him, then carefully read the damn article again. It was barely a thousand characters, yet it managed to turn her eldest sister’s story into something epic and tear-jerking. If Bai Lan didn’t know her own sister, she might have actually believed she was some kind of new-age female role model—someone who, because of a bad relationship with her husband, fought hard and finally succeeded in getting a divorce.
This kind of story was highly inflammatory. Casting her sister as a female role model was basically putting her over an open fire to roast.
Now that her sister was famous, every move she made would be watched. The slightest behavior that didn’t match the so-called “standards” would be magnified endlessly through a magnifying glass. And that outcome would bring her sister absolutely no benefit.
It did, however, benefit Bai Ping, the author of the article. Not only did the article bring her visibility, but the improvement in her sister’s so-called reputation could also bring Bai Ping certain advantages.
This twist made Bai Lan extremely unhappy. Bai Ping had turned her own sister into a stepping stone, blatantly climbing over her to rise up.
If Bai Ping were standing in front of her, Bai Lan was sure she would slap her across the face a few times.
—
“Why are you only coming back now!”
It was nearly seven in the evening when Bai Ping finally walked into the courtyard. The Bai family, who had been looking for her all day, were furious—not just because she had caused such a huge mess, but because she had disappeared without a trace.
Bai Ping looked utterly baffled. “I went out with Chengcai. What? You all saw that article, didn’t you?”
Seeing her act like some kind of hero made Bai Lan’s father so angry his chest heaved. After receiving Uncle Qin’s call earlier that day, he had gone straight to the department store to find Bai Ping. But she had taken the day off, and no one knew where she had gone. After that, he went looking for Qiu Chengcai, but he couldn’t find him either.
Even then, he had suspected the two of them were out together.
Hearing that Bai Ping had spent the entire day with Qiu Chengcai, Bai Lan was very surprised. Just last weekend, the two of them had looked like they were on the verge of breaking up. But now, three days had passed, and they still hadn’t called it quits. And from the looks of it, Bai Ping seemed intent on clinging to Qiu Chengcai for a while longer.
Thinking about the newspaper—the Northern City Women’s Newspaper was a municipal publication with ties to the city’s Women’s Federation. And Qiu Chengcai’s mother was an officer there, with close connections to editors at the paper.
That connection was hard for Bai Lan to ignore. Could Bai Ping have used the Qiu family’s connections to get in touch with an editor at the Women’s Newspaper?
Bai Lan’s guess was spot on.
Bai Ping had told Qiu Chengcai she wanted to break up over the weekend. To win her back, Qiu Chengcai eventually agreed to take her to meet an editor at the Women’s Newspaper. The editor was a good friend of Qiu Chengcai’s mother. Out of consideration for Qiu Chengcai, and because Bai Ping’s article was indeed newsworthy, the piece had gloriously made it into the paper.
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