"Hello."
Who is it?
A familiar voice came through, and Su Wantang gripped the receiver tightly.
"Hello, Auntie. I'm a friend of Comrade Huo. I work as a doctor at the hospital. My surname is Su."
Huo Xiaoyan's voice immediately softened on the other end of the phone, and a glint of shrewdness flashed in her eyes.
Could it be a girl who likes military affairs?
To become a doctor, one must come from a well-off family.
She laughed and said, "Why call me 'Auntie'? That's too formal. Just call me 'Auntie'."
"Auntie, I don't want to gossip, but... I just can't stand it anymore," Su Wantang said, suppressing her nausea.
Something about those words didn't sound right. Huo Xiaoyan's heart skipped a beat.
"Auntie, Comrade Huo's wife has gone too far!"
A military wife? Isn't that the Su family's daughter?
When Huo Jun was involved, Huo Xiaoyan's eyes immediately turned sinister. Before she could ask, Su Wantang, who wanted to hang up the phone as soon as possible, blurted out the whole story.
"She spends money extravagantly; she bought a TV as soon as she arrived at the army base—"
"What?"
Huo Xiaoyan's eyes widened in disbelief.
A TV set costs around two hundred yuan. No wonder Jun didn't send his allowance home this month. She thought he was on a mission and hadn't had time to send it. Turns out, that little brat from the Su family had taken advantage of him!
"That's not even the most infuriating thing!"
Huo Xiaoyan was shocked: "There's more?"
"She deliberately showed off, buying more expensive wine than her allowance allowed and throwing a housewarming party. Word got out, attracting the attention of the leaders, who happened to see her..." Su Wantang deliberately paused, "and in front of several soldiers, she stripped naked and seduced Comrade Huo...doing *that* kind of thing..."
Huo Xiaoyan couldn't believe it and asked blankly, "What happened?"
"Auntie!" Su Wantang called out in embarrassment and annoyance, saying nothing but revealing everything.
"In short, the leader was furious and demoted Comrade Huo two ranks. Comrade Huo... he... he... is now a squad leader..."
"What? Demotion? Class monitor?"
Huo Xiaoyan's vision went black, and she collapsed without even realizing when Su Wantang hung up the phone.
"Xiaoyan! Xiaoyan!"
The villagers who were chatting at the door saw this scene and immediately jumped up from their small stools and gathered around.
Huo Jun was a successful man in the surrounding villages. He was the one who arranged for the village telephone to be installed at Old Li's house at the village entrance, so that every household could make and receive calls.
The village entrance is where the gossipy aunties gather.
They had already been listening intently when they heard that the attack came from the military.
They also heard the words "demotion" and "squad leader," but they were all roughnecks and didn't know the specific ranks in the army. They only knew that a squad leader was a minor official, while a battalion commander was a very high-ranking official, whose monthly allowance alone was several tens of yuan, equivalent to many years of farm work for them.
Seeing Huo Xiaoyan's current state, they couldn't help but wonder if something had happened to Huo Jun.
Some of the more outspoken old women even asked the question directly.
"Xiaoyan, what mistake did your son Jun make? He was demoted?"
Huo Xiaoyan, whose face had just regained a sliver of color, turned as black as the bottom of a pot upon hearing this.
She straightened her back and yelled, "You gossipy women! What nonsense are you spreading? My Jun is doing just fine! Demotion? Impossible! This time, he called me to accompany him to the military camp, saying that after I got off the train, his squad leader would come to pick me up."
Upon hearing this, the old women immediately began to flatter them.
"Accompanying the army? Xiaoyan, you are truly blessed!"
"Alright, I'm not talking to you guys anymore, I'm going back to pack my bags."
Huo Xiaoyan moved her legs incredibly fast, and disappeared from their sight in no time.
"Pah! What's with the attitude! So what if he has a son who's a battalion commander?"
"that is."
"But then again, is there really no need to rush to the army? Could it be that Huo Jun has really made a mistake?"
...
TRAIN STATION.
"Yan'er, have you remembered everything your mother told you?"
"Mother, I remember."
"Mother... are you sure you don't need me to go with you?"
Huo Xiaoyan glared at Huo Yan: "If you come with me, won't everyone in the village know that your brother was demoted?"
Huo Yan bit her lip, her lowered eyes flashing with resentment, but when she looked up, her vision was blurred.
"Mom, you've never traveled far from home, I'm worried about you."
Huo Xiaoyan felt a surge of comfort and her tone softened: "Yan'er, don't worry, I'm fine. I'm just going to teach that little vixen a lesson and make her divorce your brother. I'll be back as soon as I'm done."
"Hmph, if I had known, I would have preferred you to marry your brother." Huo Xiaoyan felt a piercing pain in her heart when she thought of Huo Jun's demotion.
Huo Yan's eyes flickered slightly. Now that Jun Ge was divorced, she still had a chance.
"Mom, remember to call me when you get to the army, so I can feel at ease."
Clang... Clang...
The train is here.
Huo Xiaoyan boarded the train to the military base, her cloudy eyes flashing with a ruthless light.
That brat from the Su family, daring to harm the army, I won't let you get away with this!
...
Su Wantang hung up the phone and was about to return to her office when she ran into two gossipy nurses.
"Have you heard? The new director, Director Yu, who came to inspect the area, is leaving this afternoon."
"Really? Didn't she just arrive yesterday? So soon?"
Su Wantang stopped in her tracks and called out to the two of them.
"Wait, who did you just say was leaving?"
Su Wantang had worked in the nursing department. Although they might not know each other well, they had met a few times. They also knew that Su Wantang had been transferred to the surgery department as an assistant, and they had heard that she was one of the candidates for this exam.
Look at this... does that mean you weren't selected?
The young nurse cursed her own bad luck; how did she end up running into Su Wantang's crossfire? She knew she was bound to be scolded and reprimanded later, but she had no choice but to bite the bullet and call out, "Assistant Su... I mean, Director Yu..."
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