It was a week later that Wu Shujuan learned about Zong Shao's baby girl from the wife of Mr. Qian next door.
After Chen Xinglan followed Zong Ping from Liao Province to the capital, she has been living in this naval compound. The Zong and Qian families have been neighbors for more than ten years and have always had a good relationship.
When Wu Shujuan brought her daughter to seek refuge, Chen Xinglan listened to her husband and took them in to live in her home. Lao Qian's wife also advised her to be more careful.
But after Zong Ping found a job for Wu Shujuan and she moved out, Lao Qian's wife said nothing anymore. Every time she came to visit with her daughter, she would greet her with a smile, treating her like a relative of the Zong family.
It was not until Chen Xinglan divorced Zong Ping and Wu Shujuan brought her daughter into the house that Old Qian's wife changed her attitude.
Although Zong Ping and Wu Shujuan were not caught by anyone, they got together only after Zong Ping and Chen Xinglan divorced, and there was someone who brought them together, so it cannot be confirmed that they had been hooking up for a long time.
But Lao Qian's wife didn't believe these nonsense. Zong Ping and Wu Shujuan didn't know each other until after their divorce. When Wu Shujuan's husband died, she brought her daughter to the capital and lived in Zong's house. The two families have been in close contact over the years. Who knows if they had an affair long ago and divorced because Chen Xinglan found out.
What's more, Chen Xinglan has treated Wu Shujuan as her own sister over the years and has always loved her daughter very much. In the first two years after joining the company, Wu Shujuan was often too busy to go home in order to get promoted, so her daughter almost always lived in the clan's home.
It is no exaggeration to say that Chen Xinglan's love for Wu Shujuan and her daughter is heartfelt.
If Wu Shujuan had any sense of shame and cared about Chen Xinglan's kindness, she should not have gotten together with her husband after her divorce.
Therefore, Lao Qian's wife looked down upon Wu Shujuan's behavior. After she married Zong Ping, she even discussed moving with her husband, as she was ashamed to associate with such a person.
But Lao Qian always felt that he and Zong Ping had known each other for so many years, and he couldn't bear to break up with him because of this matter. To put it simply, he is afraid of offending people.
Because her husband was not supportive, the move was never accomplished. Old Qian's wife could only bear the consequences and become neighbors with Wu Shujuan. However, they rarely interacted with each other in the past two years, and she could not help but say a few harsh words when they talked.
The same is true this time.
Her son and Zong Shao were childhood friends, and they went to military school together. So after Chen Xinglan and Zong Ping divorced, although Zong Shao rarely came back, the two children always had a good relationship.
After graduating from the military academy, the two were not assigned to serve in the army.
In fact, it was not completely without the chance of being assigned to the same place. Both of them were excellent students, and the three major fleets of the Navy had extended olive branches to them. At that time, both of them had the same wishes, so there was a great chance that they would be assigned to the same place.
But Zong Ping listened to Wu Shujuan's advice and didn't want Zong Shao to be too far away from home, so he asked his old comrades to intervene in his son's whereabouts. After Zong Shao learned about this, he applied to go to Yazhou Island at the southern tip of the motherland.
Although Lao Qian's son and Zong Shao were not serving in the army in the same place, they had often communicated by phone and letter over the years, so they were very clear about each other's current situation.
The fact that Zong Shao had a daughter was mentioned by chance by her son during a phone call yesterday.
Although Zong Shao seldom came back in recent years after he went to Yazhou Island, on the one hand, Old Qian's wife watched Zong Shao grow up and treated him as her own nephew; on the other hand, every time she said that Zong Shao was living well, Wu Shujuan's face would not be very happy, so she would pay special attention to Zong Shao's recent situation.
When she heard that Zong Shao had a baby girl, Old Qian's wife asked a few more questions. After finding out everything, she asked Wu Shujuan the next day when she met her, "Is your old Zong going out recently?"
When she first got married to Zong Ping, Wu Shujuan thought about getting along well with Lao Qian's wife, but after hitting a wall a few times, their relationship became strained.
But Wu Shujuan was a person who cared about her reputation. Although she and Zong Ping had no affair over the years and she felt that she had acted uprightly, she could not resist the various speculations made by others about her.
In addition, she had always felt that the position of Madam Zong should belong to her, and Chen Xinglan took away what belonged to her as a way of repaying a favor. So after marrying Zong Ping, she couldn't help but secretly compare herself with Chen Xinglan in her heart, thinking of suppressing her.
Therefore, Wu Shujuan has always attached great importance to her reputation. Even if she hates Lao Qian's wife in her heart, she is always friendly to others. Even if Old Qian's wife was sarcastic to her, she would just laugh it off.
Her efforts were not in vain.
People tend to forget things, and time will dilute many things. No matter how good Chen Xinglan's reputation was in the past, she has been almost forgotten after so many years of absence.
When people talk about Chief Zong’s wife now, the first person they think of is not Chen Xinglan, but Wu Shujuan. As for the fact that she was once good friends with Chen Xinglan and later married Zong Ping, fewer and fewer people mentioned it.
Of course, it would be best if Lao Qian’s wife could keep her mouth shut.
But the reality is that Lao Qian's wife can't keep her mouth shut, and she, knowing that the other party has bad intentions, still has to greet him with a smile and ask, "What?"
Sure enough, the next second, Lao Qian's wife screamed: "Hey, Xiao Shao's wife gave birth to a daughter last month, and they are going to hold a full-month banquet. Have you not heard about this?"
At off-get off work hours, there are many people coming and going on the criss-crossing roads of the Navy compound.
However, not many people reacted immediately when they heard the name "Xiao Shao". People's memory is limited. With the departure of Chen Xinglan, Zong Shao came back less and less frequently, and he even never came back in the past few years.
Gradually, Zong Shao was also forgotten.
If Lao Qian's wife called Zong Shao with both her full name, people might react quickly, but when she omitted her surname, many people were unable to react for a while. Not to mention those who have moved in in recent years. They may have heard from old friends that Zong Ping and his son had a bad relationship, but most of them don’t know what Zong Ping’s son’s name is.
But others might not know, but Wu Shujuan could not be unaware. When she learned that Zong Shao had given birth to a daughter, her pupils suddenly shrank, and she could no longer maintain her gentle yet helpless expression, and her lips were tightly pursed.
Seeing Wu Shujuan's expression, Old Qian's wife knew what was going on. She exclaimed, "You really don't know. How can you be so indifferent to Shao's stepmother? How can you not know about such a big thing?"
Without waiting for Wu Shujuan to reply, he acted as if he had suddenly realized something and said, "Oh, I forgot. Before you married Zong Shao's father, he called you Aunt Juan for so many years. But Xinglan married Lao Zong and you became her stepmother. It's strange that he would be willing to tell you about these happy events!"
There was a huge amount of information contained in what Old Qian's wife said, and everyone was shocked after hearing it.
Those who didn't know the inside story looked at Wu Shujuan with shock, while those who knew the inside story recalled the past and looked at Wu Shujuan with a little more contempt.
Because of a few short words from Lao Qian's wife, Wu Shujuan's years of business were once again destroyed. But what made her angry was not this incident, but the fact that Zong Shao had given birth to a daughter.
Last year, Wu Shujuan's daughter's condition worsened and the doctor issued several critical illness notices, asking her to prepare for her funeral. But her daughter survived time and time again. She knew that her daughter was still thinking about Zong Shao and wanted to see him again.
Wu Shujuan thought that if Zong Shao was willing to come back to see her daughter, perhaps her condition would improve, so she asked Zong Ping to call Yazhou Island to tell Zong Shao about this.
Zong Ping felt embarrassed at first as they had not had any contact for many years. But after a quarrel, he compromised and called Zong Shao.
But after the call was connected, Zong Shao directly asked Zong Ping whether he wanted to talk about personal matters or business matters. When he learned that it was the former, he hung up the phone.
After the call was hung up, Zong Ping got extremely angry at home and threatened not to acknowledge his son anymore, and even refused to call Zong Shao. And this time, no matter how much she made a fuss, he didn't change his mind.
Wu Shujuan had no choice but to call Zong Shao herself, but this time, the call didn't go through. After that, she began to write letters to Zong Shao in the name of Zong Ping, hoping that he would come back to see her daughter because of their past friendship.
I sent the first letter, but received no reply.
The second, third and fourth letters were sent, but they were all returned without being opened.
And Wu Shujuan watched her daughter die with her eyes wide open during this endless wait and repeated disappointments.
But even so, she just felt that Zong Shao was cold-blooded and heartless, and regretted the decision she had made. It was not until this moment, when she learned that Zong Shao had given birth to a daughter, that she began to hate him.
Zong Shao’s wife gave birth to a daughter last month. She was conceived in February.
February was the Chinese New Year, and she sent her last letter, hoping that Zong Shao would come back. But he never came back, and soon after her daughter’s death, she received another rejection.
Before her daughter died, Wu Shujuan thought she wanted a lot, including status, fame, peace and a better life. It wasn't until her daughter died that she realized she was wrong.
Now she has a respectable job and manages several people. Her husband Zong Ping is a high-ranking naval officer. She has status, position and a better life. As for her reputation, even if it is a bit difficult to maintain, few people mention the past anymore.
She seemed to have everything, but she felt like she had nothing, and her most important treasure was no longer there.
If her daughter had passed away peacefully, she might have let it go, but that was not the case.
Thinking of her daughter suffering from illness and begging to see Zong Shao again, while he was flirting with that woman, Wu Shujuan felt hatred in her heart!
Out of hatred, Wu Shujuan ignored Lao Qian's wife and hurried home.
…
When Wu Shujuan learned that Zong Shao was going to hold a full-month banquet for his daughter, Lin Wei was checking the guest list for the day with Zong Shao, mainly to count the number of people.
Supplies are limited these days, and even when entertaining guests, waste is unavoidable. The number of banquet tables is basically strictly based on the number of guests. If you are a little more stingy, you will even cram a few more people onto one table.
When they entertained guests, they used the same large round table they used at home, and if it wasn't big enough, they would borrow one from the neighbors. Although the tables are not exactly the same, they are basically the same. A standard table can seat twelve people, and if you squeeze a little, fourteen people can sit. No more than that, because they will be elbow to elbow while eating, and maybe they will get into a fight.
There were four tables at the banquet, which could seat a total of forty-eight to fifty-six people.
About fifty people seemed like a lot. The last time they planned to invite only about twenty households, it was customary in the family quarters that at most two people could go from each invited household. If there were more, they could only go if the relationship was really close and they could discuss it themselves.
They multiplied the number of people they counted by two, and even if some families had one or two more people, it would be almost enough.
The problem was that after word got out that they were going to have a banquet, many people who were not invited asked Zong Shao about it. They were all comrades-in-arms and lived in the family quarters. When others asked him about it enthusiastically, he seemed certain that they would invite him. What could he do? You can't just say sorry to someone and say I didn't mean to call you.
If he was not familiar with the person, Zong Shao would not be so embarrassed. Such people usually would not mention this matter to him. They both knew whether their relationship was good or not.
The problem is that most of the people who ask me are people with whom I don’t have a very close relationship, but are familiar to me and we don’t have any conflicts when getting along with each other, so it’s really hard to refuse!
Not only Zong Shao, there are also such people on Lin Wei's side.
Since Lin Wei was discharged from the hospital, people have come to visit her and her child one after another. After the news that they were going to hold a full-month banquet spread, the people who came to visit couldn't help but talk about this matter.
The most embarrassing thing was that among the people who came to visit her, some were invited by her and some were not. After all, they had only planned to hold four tables for the banquet, and the number of people they could invite was limited, so of course she started by inviting those she had a good relationship with.
But for those who were not invited, you might say that Lin Wei has a bad relationship with them, but that’s not the case, it’s just that the relationship is not that good.
The problem is that even if it's not that good, other people have come to visit her and talk about it. She can't continue to play deaf and dumb and exclude others. In order to meet each other in the future, Lin Wei invited the person.
When new guests were added, Lin Wei and Zong Shao both informed each other. It was just that I had one more person today, and you could invite one more person tomorrow. Seeing that the number of new guests was not large, it was just a matter of adding a pair of chopsticks.
But today when they were talking about who would attend, something seemed to be wrong. They had only planned to prepare four tables of banquet in total, but how come the number of guests exceeded that much?
Then Lin Wei climbed up from the bed, took out a notebook from the desk, opened it and started registering people.
The more they registered, the more serious their expressions became.
The number of guests they invited was not just exceeded, but greatly exceeded. They had originally planned to host four tables of wine, but now they are aiming for six. After completing the registration and counting, we found that we would indeed have to host six tables of wine, and some of them would have to be squeezed together.
After the calculation, Lin Wei was still confused: "Why did we invite so many people?"
Zong Shao coughed lightly and said, "Just...unknowingly."
"Then do you think we have enough tickets?"
Zong Shao thought for a moment and said, "We have enough seafood tickets. If there are not enough chickens and ducks, I will borrow some from Lao Zhou. At worst, I can return them next month. As for the pork shanks and offal, I will talk to Lao Xu some other day and ask him to leave some more for us on that day."
If this is the case, they will have to eat seafood sparingly, and they can buy chickens and ducks from people in the surrounding brigades, and the same goes for eggs. The rest of the items do not require tickets. As for the human tickets, he had no intention of touching them from the beginning, so it didn't have much impact.
After listening to Zong Shao's analysis, Lin Wei also felt that even if the banquet was increased to six tables, it would not be a big problem and it could be afforded as long as there were no more people.
Thinking of this, Lin Wei said, "You won't add any more people, right?"
Zong Shao counted the people he had invited and said, "Probably not. We have a good relationship with them, so basically everyone who was not invited before has been invited. How about you?"
Lin Wei thought for a moment and said, "It's pretty much the same here."
Zong Shao nodded: "Okay, then I'll find someone to borrow some tables, chairs, bowls and chopsticks tomorrow."
"I'll tell Mom and Xiao Zhang about this tomorrow so they can be mentally prepared," Lin Wei said, still a little worried, and asked, "Is there nothing else?"
“It should be gone.”
The two checked again, and only after confirming that there was no problem did Lin Wei close her notebook. When they turned off the lights, they both breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, I hope there won't be any more problems!
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