“This fat is two fingers thick. You absolutely can’t buy this at a meat stall.”
“Hmph, has any of you ever bought meat this good? This kind of quality never even leaves the slaughterhouse.”
“Where did you buy it? I can’t tell you that. But if you want some, next time I go to buy it, I wouldn’t mind going out of my way to bring some back for you.”
Bai Lan had just entered the communal courtyard carrying a big carp when she heard Su Xiaomei’s loud, blustering voice. The smugness in her tone was impossible to miss.
As she walked through the moon gate, she saw several older women gathered around Su Xiaomei. In Su Xiaomei’s hand hung a large piece of fatty pork. Under the sunlight, the fat glistened brilliantly.
Su Xiaomei was in the middle of boasting, spittle flying, about the fatty pork she’d bought. She happened to look up and saw Bai Lan walking in with a big carp. Her face instantly fell.
“Hey, Bai Lan. Why are you here at this time?”
Someone asked. Bai Lan smiled and said, “My dad’s friend got ahold of a big carp and asked me to bring it home.”
Bai Lan had moved with Xu Jianbei to the tower block apartment at the screw factory yesterday. No one expected her to be back so soon. Now, hearing she’d come to deliver a fish, they all looked at the big carp in her hands.
Some neighbors muttered that the Xu family’s two daughters-in-law were really something else. One brought fish, the other meat—truly fortunate.
Seeing Bai Lan steal her spotlight, Su Xiaomei grew annoyed. “Hey, hey, hey, do you still have questions? If not, I’m going back inside.”
She was so smug you’d think she’d bought dragon meat.
Bai Lan rolled her eyes and walked straight into her own home with the big carp.
——
Inside the Bai family’s main room, Bai’s mother saw the big carp and immediately said, “Why didn’t you take this to your in-laws’ house?”
Bai Lan shrugged. “Dad really did tell me to bring it home. Our canteen head chef has connections and got some fish. He gave one to Dad, and Dad asked me to bring it straight home.”
As for giving it to her in-laws—that wasn’t happening. This was her father’s fish. Besides, the eldest branch of her in-laws’ family had been stirring up trouble lately. She didn’t want to do them any favors.
Seeing this, Bai’s mother didn’t press further. Instead, she asked about the living situation at the screw factory.
“It’s pretty good, just a bit noisy. There are a lot of people in the tower block, and the hallway gets quite loud.”
This was Bai Lan’s honest assessment. But the tower block did have advantages. The bathroom was much cleaner than a public latrine.
After chatting for a bit more, Bai Lan got ready to head back to the canteen.
But as soon as she stepped outside, her mother-in-law called her over. The two walked out to the hutong, and when there was no one around, Miao Daju brought up Su Xiaomei.
“Jianbei called home early this morning. He said your sister-in-law has been sneaking up to the mountains with that woman Xu Meili to buy pork. I thought he must have heard wrong, but it turns out your sister-in-law really does have that kind of nerve. Xiaolan, I’ll have a word with her in a bit and make sure she doesn’t do this anymore.”
Bai Lan nodded and didn’t say much more. Xu Jianbei had alerted the family not because he was jealous that the eldest branch had a way to buy meat. It was because he was afraid Su Xiaomei’s high profile might attract the attention of the speculation and profiteering enforcement. And if that happened, it could implicate the second branch’s braised meat business.
She thought that would be the end of it.
But not two days later, while Bai Lan was working in the textile factory canteen kitchen, she heard news that Xu Jiandong was about to get a promotion and a raise.
——
“Congratulations!”
Bai Lan felt a bit embarrassed hearing the canteen aunties’ well-wishes.
Besides, how could a useless fellow like Xu Jiandong get a promotion and raise at the start of the year? It was almost surreal.
But soon, Bai Lan learned that this promotion and raise had come about because Xu Jiandong had given his supervisor a five-catty chunk of fatty pork.
The news hadn’t spread widely, but some people knew about it. And so, some began asking Xu Jiandong to help them buy meat. A few who knew Bai Lan, aware that Xu Jiandong was her husband’s eldest brother, came to her to ask for an introduction.
Bai Lan was completely speechless.
When Xu Jianbei finally came home after working overtime and heard the news, he sighed. “I knew it. Eldest Brother and his wife could never do anything right.”
Not only were they sneaking around buying pork, but they were also making such a spectacle of their gift-giving. It was as if they thought their lives weren’t short enough.
And if he remembered correctly, the meat had come through Xu Meili.
Now the eldest branch couple had started acting as middlemen, buying pork on commission for others.
Bai Lan simply couldn’t understand this turn of events.
The one most frustrated by this outcome was Liu Meiling.
In the screw factory’s tower block apartment, Bai Lan listened to Liu Meiling’s complaints and had to admit she was in a tough spot. The main issue was that the eldest branch couple’s damn pork-buying side business had made it impossible for Liu Meiling to get meat from the mountain pig farm anymore.
That’s right—even though the eldest branch couple tried to keep it secret, the fact that Su Xiaomei was running off to the suburban mountains every day with Xu Meili had been noticed.
“Now, aside from our eldest sister-in-law, only the purchasing agents from a few big factories can get pork from that pig farm.”
It’s normal for big factories to get pork, but for the eldest sister-in-law to get it is truly strange.
“Don’t be too upset either. Didn’t my cousin say he’d try to connect you with a few more pig farms and slaughterhouses? In a pinch, you could even sell braised offal from chickens, ducks, and geese.”
Although Liu Meiling had her own plans, she still found it very frustrating. The idea that someone like the eldest sister-in-law could establish a connection with a pig farm was simply mind-boggling.
“That connection came through Xu Meili.” Bai Lan was certain of this much. But who was behind Xu Meili—that she didn’t know.
——
Just as the two sisters-in-law were talking, they heard a knock at the door. Bai Lan opened it and was stunned.
The visitor turned out to be none other than Su Xiaomei.
Su Xiaomei flashed a big smile and waved a rack of ribs she was carrying. “Oh, Third Sister-in-law, you’re here too. You should have called me if you were coming to visit Little Brother’s place.”
Then she turned to Bai Lan. “See? Aren’t I good to you two? These ribs will be delicious stewed with radishes.”
With that, Su Xiaomei enthusiastically shoved the ribs into Bai Lan’s hands.
The whole thing struck Bai Lan as completely out of nowhere. And it immediately reminded her of that time before she’d married into the family, when Su Xiaomei had suddenly started fawning over her.
Back then, Su Xiaomei’s goal had been to get her hands on Bai Lan’s room. What did she want this time?
Liu Meiling spoke up at that moment. “Oh my, eldest sister-in-law, you’re so generous! What’s this? Playing favorites as the eldest sister-in-law? Giving gifts only to Little Brother’s family and not to mine?”
As soon as she said this, Su Xiaomei’s expression twisted.
Bai Lan could tell she was holding back a tantrum and couldn’t help but wink at Liu Meiling.
Liu Meiling raised an eyebrow and continued, “You can’t be like that. As the eldest sister-in-law, you need to act like one.”
Bai Lan nodded in agreement, playing along.
Seeing the two of them perform this comedy duet trying to take advantage of her, Su Xiaomei was about to explode with rage. But remembering why she’d come, she held back. “Fine. If I come across any good ribs in the next couple of days, I’ll save you a rack too.”
Seeing this, Bai Lan suddenly reached out and snatched the ribs that Su Xiaomei had been holding. She smiled sweetly and said, “Thank you, eldest sister-in-law.”
Caught off guard by the sudden snatching, Su Xiaomei froze. Her outstretched hand clutched at the air for a moment before she reluctantly let go.
The pained expression on her face almost made Bai Lan burst out laughing. Did Su Xiaomei actually think she’d stand on ceremony? Not a chance. Since Su Xiaomei clearly wanted something from her, Bai Lan might as well collect a little interest upfront.
Fighting through her resentment, Su Xiaomei’s lips twitched as she said, “You’re welcome. I was wrong before. After you and Little Brother moved out, your eldest brother and I thought it over for a long time and decided to come apologize. From now on, we’re all good siblings.”
“Eldest sister-in-law, although you and eldest brother haven’t done anything decent all these years, and you’ve made the whole family dislike you…”
Bai Lan rattled off a string of grievances against Su Xiaomei, watching as the veins on her temples bulged from the effort of holding back. Then she slowly turned to Liu Meiling. “Isn’t that right, Third Sister-in-law? We’re not petty people. We won’t stoop to the level of eldest brother and eldest sister-in-law.”
Liu Meiling held back a laugh and nodded in agreement, thinking to herself that Bai Lan was really something.
Su Xiaomei heard the words “stoop to the level” and felt something was off. But seeing Bai Lan’s demeanor, she relaxed a bit. Finally, she revealed her true purpose.
“Oh? You want your son to assist Jianbei?”
Su Xiaomei nodded eagerly. “Yes, yes, yes. Let him learn something so he can find a job. Otherwise, he’ll have to go to the countryside next year.”
On the surface, the request sounded normal. But coming from Su Xiaomei, Bai Lan felt something wasn’t right.
Still, she didn’t plan to refuse outright. She wanted to string Su Xiaomei along and see what she was really up to.
So she smiled and said, “This is a man’s matter. As a woman, it’s not really my place to interfere. How about this: I’ll ask Jianbei when he gets off work.”
Hearing this, Su Xiaomei thought she’d gotten her foot in the door. She looked relieved. “Thank you, Bai Lan. If this really works out, I’ll definitely find a way to repay you.”
As soon as Su Xiaomei left, Liu Meiling asked curiously, “You’re actually going to agree to that?”
Bai Lan said, “It’s not up to me. It’s up to Jianbei.”
She thought Xu Jianbei would refuse. But when he came home after his night shift and heard about it, he nodded. “Let him come.”
Bai Lan was surprised. “Really?”
Xu Jianbei nodded. “Let him come. If we don’t go along with this, I’d still be wondering what their next move is.”
There was a lot packed into those words. Bai Lan sensed something and looked up at Xu Jianbei. He patted the back of her hand. “There’s a bit of an issue. But we can handle it. Who knows—maybe we can kill two birds with one stone.”
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