The mother and daughter walked and chatted along the roadside. The little rascal turned his head and looked around, occasionally letting out an "ooh" sound.
"Sister-in-law Qiu Nan?"
A sudden shout made the mother and daughter stop and look over.
"Solve?"
Ding Qiunan then noticed that, without realizing it, they had walked to the road opposite the family compound, next to Yan Jiecheng's hot pot restaurant, with a tricycle parked in front of it, piled with a lot of vegetables.
"I didn't expect to run into you here, sister-in-law. Why did you take such a long walk?"
“My family home is right across the street in the grain bureau’s residential compound. I’m staying here on my vacation these past few days. You just got back from grocery shopping?”
"Yes, sister-in-law, please come inside and sit with Auntie."
"I'm not sitting here anymore, you go ahead and do your work."
Yan Jiecheng seemed to only then notice the child Ding Qiunan was holding, and asked with some surprise, "Sister-in-law, what is this...?"
"This is Wenxuan's child."
"You're a grandma now?"
"Isn't Wenxuan's child my grandson?"
"That's too fast, Brother Chu is already a grandfather."
People were chatting outside the shop, while a middle-aged woman sat at the counter inside, not bothering with the accounts, her eyes constantly glancing outside.
"Sis, who's that guy chatting with my brother-in-law?"
The woman sitting behind the counter turned her head to look at her sister who had just come out of the kitchen, shook her head and said, "She looks kind of familiar, but I can't remember where I've seen her before."
The younger sister rolled her eyes, then pulled her older sister's arm and said, "Sis, come on, let's go out and take a look."
"What are you going to see? You don't even know anyone here." The older sister slapped away her younger sister's hand that was grabbing her arm.
In truth, she longed to go out and see the world, but seeing the beautiful face and exquisite attire of the woman outside, and then looking at her own haggard appearance and faded clothes, she simply didn't want to go.
The younger sister looked at her older sister with some confusion. She had made some money running a hot pot restaurant in the past two years, and her older sister kept a close eye on her brother-in-law. Whenever she saw him talking to a woman, she would go over and interrogate him for a long time in a roundabout way. Why didn't she go over today?
When she looked at Ding Qiunan again, she realized why her sister had acted that way.
Just then, the conversation at the door ended, and Yan Jiecheng came in again carrying a bag of vegetables.
"Brother-in-law, who was that talking to you just now?"
“Your sister knows her, Lily. What’s wrong with you? You see someone you know and you don’t even say hello.”
His words stunned the two sisters.
Yu Li stared blankly at her husband, unable to recall where she had met that woman.
Yan Jiecheng understood immediately upon seeing his wife's reaction. He smiled and said, "You've forgotten because it's been so long, haven't you? That's Brother Chu's wife."
"Huh? You mean that's Ding... Ding... Ding Qiunan?"
"Yeah, even though you haven't seen her for a long time, I don't think she's changed much."
"I knew she looked familiar. I've only ever seen her in military uniform. I didn't recognize her at all today, she's in civilian clothes," Yu Li said, shaking her head.
"She really hasn't changed at all over the years, she still looks so young!"
"People who have no worries about food or clothing and don't have to worry about anything every day must look young!"
Yan Jiecheng said with emotion, then picked up the bag of vegetables and walked towards the kitchen.
"Sis, what's going on? Is it an older man and a younger woman?" Yu Li's younger sister asked gossipyly.
"What do you mean by 'older man, younger woman'? This woman is about my age, and her husband is only three or four years older than your brother-in-law."
The younger sister looked at her older sister in disbelief: "Sis, are you kidding me? You're saying that woman at the door was your age?"
"Yes, their family used to live in the same courtyard as your brother-in-law, but they moved away before I got married. She went to that courtyard a few times afterward, so I've seen them before, but we weren't very familiar with each other."
By the way, the courtyard where your brother-in-law lives was bought by her family.
"Bought by her family? What does her husband do? Are they that rich?"
You know the Begonia from the General Hospital of the Military Region, right?
"Of course I know."
"Yes, my father-in-law mentioned her before. She is a man, the one your brother-in-law mentioned, Brother Chu. I think he is now the president or vice president of the main hospital."
Yu Haitang's mouth was agape.
"How high-ranking must this official be!"
"I don't know," Yu Li shook her head and said, "I don't know how high-ranking he is, but my father-in-law said he's definitely higher than your factory director."
Bigger than the factory manager?
The highest-ranking official Yu Haitang had ever met in all these decades was the director of their steel mill.
Upon hearing this, her eyes began to gleam.
But then she remembered the woman she had seen at the door earlier, and her anger dissipated.
Although she was considered somewhat attractive, it depended on who she was compared to. If time had gone back twenty years, she believed she wasn't much worse off than the woman from before, but now...
Yu Li knew her younger sister's personality very well; just by looking at the rich expressions on her face, she knew what she was up to.
"Ahem... Haitang, you should put those feelings aside and settle down with Yuanhang. Although Yuanhang is a bit slow-witted, he is genuinely good to you. Don't think about those unnecessary things all the time."
"Sis, I didn't!"
Feeling a little embarrassed by being pointed out by her own sister, Yu Haitang quickly defended herself.
“You know in your heart whether it’s true or not. I know you’ve been unhappy ever since you married Yuanhang, but our lives are pretty good now, aren’t they? This hot pot restaurant can give you a hundred or so yuan every month, isn’t that enough for you?”
"Sister, look at what you're saying. Money is something you can't take with you when you're born or when you die, so enough is enough. But power is a different story."
That good-for-nothing at home, no matter how much I teach him, he just can't learn. His dad left us such good resources, but he refuses to interact with the elders. He just stays holed up in his technical department every day, and at forty he's still just a lowly clerk, not even a deputy section chief. I've had enough! Just looking at him is annoying.
Yu Haitang gets furious whenever her man is mentioned.
She must have been blind back then, how could she have picked this guy after all that picking and choosing?
She initially thought that her father-in-law was a leader in a department, and that she could at least help them out. However, not long after she married him, her father-in-law passed away due to illness.
They say that once someone leaves, the relationship cools down, and that's what she was worried about. So she kept urging her husband to visit his old friends more often, but he was just a bookworm and refused, which really annoyed her.
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