It's already winter, and there's hardly any fresh vegetables to eat. Being able to eat some cornbread with pickled vegetables is just as satisfying as celebrating the New Year.
Especially when there are many kinds of salty ingredients, this satisfaction is almost the same as eating meat.
The entire Liu family gathered around the table, filling it to capacity. Liu's mother placed the best dishes towards Liu Mei. No one else in the family objected to this.
After all, my sister-in-law is now a full-time employee. This means she will have an income for the rest of her life.
"Meizi, it's been so long since you've been back. Your dad and I have been missing you terribly." Liu's mother said while putting food on her daughter's plate. "This is some pickled vegetable I just made, made from cabbage leaves. I used quite a bit of salt. Try it. I was planning to take this out to eat during the New Year, but I knew you were coming back, so I prepared it."
Liu Mei took a couple of bites, feeling quite pleased with herself. She thought to herself, "When have I ever enjoyed such treatment before?" She kept saying, "Mom, you and I should eat less of this dish. My sister should eat less pickled vegetables; we don't eat this in our family."
"When did Xingzi read that? You can eat meat without pickled vegetables?"
Liu Mei proudly said, "What? I'm not my sister's daughter, I'm my husband's older sister. My husband's older sister."
Upon hearing Liu Mei's words, the whole family stared at her as if she were an alien.
It seems Auntie was right; Meizi has been bewitched.
Sister-in-law Liu asked, "Meizi, what do you eat if you don't eat pickled vegetables?"
"It's been so cold lately, we're eating cabbage stewed with glass noodles, sometimes with meat too. And we can't eat these hard cornbreads anymore. We need to eat steamed corn and rice. It's so delicious."
The Liu family members all swallowed hard. Liu's mother said, "Meizi, don't be ridiculous. Can the Su family really afford to go through all this? Will they even survive the winter?"
"Why can't we live together?" Liu Mei didn't want others to see her in-laws. "My husband's older sister has strong connections. She had someone bring in several large bags of grain from outside. We're not short of food."
"..."
The eldest brother, Liu Dayong, stared in disbelief. "You mean Su Yu, the sister-in-law who pretended to be sick and asked for money last time? What could she possibly be related to?"
Liu Mei was displeased to hear that her family looked down on Su Yu; her sister-in-law was a truly capable person!
“My sister-in-law has a lot of connections. My promotion this time was also thanks to her help. Could I have done it if I didn’t have the ability?”
Upon hearing about Liu Mei's promotion to a permanent position, the Liu family realized that the reason they had brought Liu Mei back this time was not to inquire about what the Su family ate, but to ask her about her promotion.
How did I get promoted so quietly?
The Liu family all worked at the fertilizer factory, but the two elderly men gave their jobs to their two sons. They tried every means to get their daughter a job at the steel mill, starting as a temporary worker. After several years, she became an apprentice and was just waiting to be promoted, but she never got the chance.
There are many people in the steel mill, and the competition is fierce. I thought my daughter would have to wait, but who knew she would suddenly be promoted to a permanent position.
When the second son's wife came to visit, the Liu family realized that their daughter had actually been promoted to a permanent position at the steel mill.
This is a really big deal. A permanent employee position—that's a secure job for life! My daughter will be a permanent employee from now on.
The key issue is that Liu Mei, the second son's wife, has connections at the factory, so they are wondering where those connections come from.
How could Liu Mei, as an apprentice, possibly have any connections? Now that we hear that Liu Mei got her promotion through her husband's older sister, it seems that the connections are with the Su family.
Liu's mother said, "Meizi, your sister-in-law knows people at your steel mill and even got you a permanent position? How is that possible? Does the Su family have that kind of influence? We know their situation all too well."
"Why not? The Su family is incredibly powerful." Liu Mei stopped eating altogether. She'd been eating too "well" lately, and her palate had become a bit picky.
She said proudly, "Forget about me, even Dazhi's younger brother Zhi is a permanent employee now. He's young and can be a permanent employee, so why can't I?"
"Dazhi's younger brother has also become a full-time employee?"
"Of course! My sister-in-law can get anything done with a word. If she wants me to become a permanent employee, then she will. Our Su family now has four permanent employees. My eldest sister is even a union secretary; she accompanies leaders to meetings and has even met the mayor!"
Old Liu's family: "..." They simply couldn't believe it. They thought a mere neighborhood committee director was someone extraordinary.
Liu Mei looked at her family with a smug expression, "Once the textile factory's buildings are finished next year, our Su family will be living in a big house. Da Zhi and I have figured we can at least have a room. A proper room. We'll have a place to live after we have a baby. Da Zhi and I are planning to get pregnant next year."
"Meizi, are all yours real?" Liu's mother asked tremblingly.
"Of course, my sister-in-law is very capable."
Sister-in-law Liu asked, "Meizi, whose name will the house be registered under?"
“…My sister-in-law,” Liu Mei said with a stern face.
Liu's mother was taken aback. "Why didn't you write Dazhi's name?"
Liu Mei grimaced. She wanted to, but she didn't dare. If her sister-in-law could afford to buy a house, she could also afford not to. If she offended her sister-in-law, she'd be in deep trouble.
“We’re all family, why be so particular? My husband’s older sister is devoted to the family, how can I argue with her? Besides, there’s Zhi. If we put it in Da Zhi’s name, would Zhi agree? Zhi paid for most of the house this time. We Su family don’t care about such things. We all live together anyway.”
Liu Mei's words of "righteous indignation" left the Liu family completely stunned.
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