Chapter 209 The Official Lady
The train was running slowly across the North China Plain, and the wheat fields outside the window were glowing with fresh green.
Jiang Haitang was looking down at her notebook to sort out the possible situations that might occur during this trip to the Canton Fair when she suddenly heard a commotion coming from the other end of the carriage.
"Are you blind?" A sharp female voice sounded like a rusty nail scratching against glass.
Jiang Haitang looked up and saw Yan Peiwen standing in the middle of the aisle. The cuffs of her beige windbreaker were stained with water stains, and her nails dyed with Impatiens juice were almost poking the old woman's nose.
"How dare you throw hot water on me!" She turned around and poured all the water in the enamel pot on the old lady.
The old woman shrank back half a step, and her patched blue shirt was doused with half a tub of hot water, making her look even more miserable and pitiful.
As she backed away, she accidentally bumped into the iron frame of the seat, and the coarse cloth bundle in her arms rose and fell slightly as she trembled.
"I'm sorry, my dear. The train shook a little... I really didn't mean to!"
The old woman apologized awkwardly, her rough fingers twisting the bundle, and there was still unwashed dirt in the cracks of her nails.
Jiang Haitang also saw that the old woman's body was trembling slightly.
"Girl, who are you calling your daughter? Who is your daughter? Don't you realize how lowly you are? The clothes I'm wearing were bought from the special supply department of the Shanghai Department Store. They're enough for your whole family to eat for a year! Can you afford to pay for this?"
Yan Peiwen's voice rose a few notches, attracting the attention of the surrounding passengers.
In this era, no one thinks there is anything shameful about being poor, so Yan Peiwen's words naturally caused discomfort to other passengers.
Even people in the machinery and textile factories felt very uncomfortable.
Jiang Haitang frowned and was about to stand up when Zheng Kaihe walked over quickly.
"Comrade Yan Peiwen, this lady didn't mean it. Come, I have a handkerchief..."
"No need!" Yan Peiwen shook off Zheng Kaihe's hand and suddenly pointed at the old woman's bag. "Wait! What's in your bag? Why does it smell weird?"
The old woman hurriedly explained, "Yes, these are the dry tobacco leaves produced by my family. I brought them to Huacheng's son..."
"Tobacco?" Yan Peiwen covered his nose exaggeratedly. "No wonder it smells so bad! Where's the conductor? How can you bring something so smelly on board?"
Several old men who smoked dry pipes were unhappy, and their pipes banged against the soles of their shoes. "Girl, what you said is not pleasant to hear. This smell is so refreshing!"
Their words were cut short by Yan Peiwen's sneer: "Solid? It's giving me a headache! If foreign businessmen smell this, they'll think everyone in our country is a country bumpkin!"
After hearing what she said, several people didn't say anything and just looked at her.
"What are you looking at? You know I'm the interpreter representing Long Province at the Canton Fair! How many foreign guests will I be meeting this time? My clothes are stained with this shabby smell, which is embarrassing for the country! Who of you can afford to delay earning foreign exchange for the country?"
The people around him dared not say anything when such a big hat was put on them.
Jiang Haitang could no longer sit still. She walked over to the old woman and gently held her trembling arm.
"Auntie, please go back to your seat." He took her bag and planned to escort her to her own seat. "Wrap the tobacco leaves tightly with oil paper so they don't smell. I happen to have some oil paper left. I'll help you rewrap it."
The old woman nodded repeatedly in gratitude.
Yan Peiwen sneered, "Oh, Teacher Jiang is quite good at doing favors. But those homespun cloth samples of yours don't go well with these tobacco leaves; they both have a shabby air."
She looked down on Jiang Haitang, very much. How could a woman from the countryside be liked by everyone?
The carriage fell silent, and everyone looked at Yan Peiwen, especially the people from the textile factory, whose expressions were extremely unhappy.
After all, Yan Peiwen's words were directly humiliating to their textile factory!
Xiang Wentao finally couldn't help but speak: "Comrade Yan, how can you say that..."
"Am I wrong?" Yan Peiwen looked around, his voice deliberately raised. "Those denim and tweed fabrics from your textile factory are no longer coveted by foreign merchants! Chemical fiber fabrics are popular internationally now! See, it's the kind of fabric I'm wearing that makes me look so classy and fashionable!"
When Yan Peiwen said this, she showed no disdain at all. She really looked down on the fabrics produced by the textile factory.
She even looked down on the machinery factory. Her ideal life should be to live in a big city like Beijing or Shanghai. What's so good about a poor place like Jincheng?
When Zhao Kai heard Yan Peiwen slandering their textile factory in such a way, he wanted to go up and slap her. If he was just a small cadre, he might really do so.
But he couldn't do that now. He was the deputy director of the textile factory, and his words and actions represented the textile factory. He couldn't act impulsively at this time.
He just walked silently to stand behind Jiang Haitang, expressing his support for Jiang Haitang.
Jiang Haitang calmly wrapped the tobacco leaves and said calmly, "Comrade Yan may not understand, but the blended wool we brought this time has 30% polyester added. This retains the warmth of wool while also enhancing its wear resistance."
"So what? It still has a poor and smelly smell. Maybe it smells the same as this tobacco leaf!" Yan Peiwen didn't feel that he was wrong at all. Instead, he felt even more proud.
Jiang Haitang took out a sample from her bag slowly and said, "How about you smell it and see if it smells like tobacco?"
A chuckle was heard in the carriage.
Yan Peiwen didn't expect Jiang Haitang to be so disrespectful to him, and his face immediately turned pale.
She was about to explode when a railway police officer in a railway uniform came over and asked, "What's going on?"
"Comrade, I'm really sorry. We were discussing work a little too loudly and disturbed everyone." Jiang Haitang spoke first.
She turned to Yan Peiwen and lowered her voice, "Comrade Yan, let's not disturb the other passengers' rest."
If she were a normal person, she would have called it quits at this point, but who is Yan Peiwen? She is not a normal person.
Yan Peiwen slapped away the fabric sample handed to him by Jiang Haitang, and the brand new blended woolen fabric fell to the ground with a "pa" and was covered with dust from the carriage floor.
"Stop pretending to be nice!" Her shrill voice hurt my eardrums. "Jiang Haitang, who do you think you are? A country bumpkin from the countryside, you think you're qualified to teach me how to do things?"
"Apologize!" Zhao Kai shouted in frustration.
But Yan Peiwen is used to being arrogant, how could he possibly take Zhao Kai seriously?
She looked at Zhao Kai provocatively and gave him a cold snort.
Zheng Kaihe's face also became completely gloomy.
He bent down to pick up the sample, gently brushed off the dust, and handed it back to Jiang Haitang with both hands: "Mr. Jiang, I'm sorry. I apologize on behalf of Comrade Yan Peiwen. Please keep the sample."
Jiang Haitang hurriedly said, "Director Zheng, you don't have to do this."
Zheng Kaihe shook his head, turned to Yan Peiwen, and his voice was as cold as iron.
"Comrade Yan Peiwen, please apologize to Engineer Jiang and this lady immediately."
"Apologize? Director Zheng, you want me to apologize to Jiang Haitang. Don't you want to be nice?"
Yan Peiwen seemed to have heard a joke, and her lipstick-coated lips twisted into an exaggerated arc.
The entire carriage was silent; even the conductor froze in place, not daring to interrupt.
Zhao Kai clenched and unclenched his fists, clenched and unclenched them again. Jiang Haitang was afraid that Zhao Kai would hit someone in a fit of rage, so she quickly winked at Kang Xiaoxia, asking her to hold Zhao Kai back.
Zheng Kaihe's fingers trembled slightly, but his voice was remarkably firm. "I am the head of this delegation and have the authority to maintain discipline. Comrade Yan Peiwen, your current behavior has seriously affected team unity. If you continue like this, I will have no choice but to ask you to get off at the next stop and return to Jincheng."
Zheng Kaihe's resolute tone surprised everyone present. After all, everyone thought it best not to provoke Yan Peiwen from the machinery factory.
Director Zheng doesn't give her face like this, and who knows how much trouble she will encounter.
"How dare you! You would let me suffer for Jiang Haitang? What is your relationship? Is she hooking up with you?" Yan Peiwen didn't expect that Zheng Kaihe would dare to treat him like this, and his defense was broken at that time.
Zheng Kaihe was almost so angry that he had a heart attack. He never expected that Yan Peiwen, who came from a high-ranking official family, would have such a quality that he could spread obscene rumors about others as soon as he opened his mouth.
If this gets out, who knows what others will say.
Jiang Haitang noticed that Zheng Kaihe's face turned pale and knew that he was angry. She sighed from the bottom of her heart. It was really not easy for Director Zheng to take care of such a person.
She knew that Yan Peiwen's father was a powerful figure in the factory committee and that a single word from him could decide the future of a deputy factory director.
Director Zheng is a very pragmatic person. Jiang Haitang doesn't want his future to be affected by the conflict between her and Yan Peiwen.
"Director Zheng..." Jiang Haitang called softly, wanting to give him a way out.
But Zheng Kaihe suddenly straightened his back, took a deep breath, and said word by word: "Comrade Yan Peiwen, even if your father were here, I would still say that a person who doesn't even respect ordinary working people is not worthy of representing Long Province at the Canton Fair!"
A suppressed exclamation was heard in the carriage, and a middle-aged man wearing glasses even secretly gave a thumbs up.
Yan Peiwen's face turned red, and she suddenly grabbed the enamel pot on the table and was about to smash it at Zheng Kaihe.
Jiang Haitang was quick to grab her wrist and said, "Comrade Yan! Calm down! Do you really have to let everyone laugh at you?"
"Let me go!" Yan Peiwen screamed and struggled. "You lowly people, do you know what will happen if you offend me? My father can make you all go back to the workshop and be workers with just one word!"
The old woman was frightened by Yan Peiwen's actions. She suddenly knelt down with a plop and said, "My daughter, this is all my fault. Please don't make things difficult for them..."
Jiang Haitang's heart trembled, and she hurried to help the old woman: "Auntie, please don't do this!"
Yan Peiwen took the opportunity to break free and pointed at Jiang Haitang's nose: "Okay, you guys are ganging up to bully me, right? Just wait and see!" She turned around and ran towards the sleeper car. Perhaps she was too excited and almost tripped.
The carriage was completely silent. After a long while, the conductor whispered, "Well... the next stop is Shangdu, and it'll stop for 20 minutes..."
Zheng Kaihe wiped his face and said in a hoarse voice: "Mr. Jiang, I'm sorry for causing trouble for your textile factory."
Jiang Haitang shook her head and helped the old woman sit down. "Director Zheng, you did the right thing. It's just..."
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