Wang Minggui now views Director Zhang with the same natural fear that a mouse has of a cat.
Director Zhang's husband was, in a sense, his superior, and given her years of experience working at the Women's Federation, she naturally carried the weight of her influence in women's affairs. Wang Minggui had been reprimanded by Director Zhang several times to the point of feeling ashamed.
"what happens?"
Connecting this to the fact that his eldest son had just gone to see him, Wang Minggui felt increasingly uneasy. Had he gotten into trouble again? How many times had Zhou Lian already been to the palace?
Thinking about how she had been so busy with the textile factory that she hadn't been able to take care of the family lately, how he hadn't even bothered to mend his trousers when they were torn, and how the family's meals had been lacking in oil and grease for days.
As a result of all these events, Wang Minggui had actually accumulated a lot of resentment towards Zhou Lian.
Now that she's caused trouble again, Wang Minggui is not only embarrassed but also very impatient.
If all else fails, let her take these children back to her hometown. It's only been a few months, and she's already caused him so much trouble.
Once Director Zhang goes back and whispers something in the ears of the higher-ups, will his path to promotion still be possible?
Regarding the last incident involving Er Ya, Director Zhang said that his revolutionary ideology was not pure and that he still retained the dregs of the old society, favoring sons over daughters.
Wang Minggui wanted to explain but couldn't. Even if he explained it all, Er Ya really didn't go to school. He could only promise that he would treat every child in the family fairly in the future.
Even so, he still went back to the team and wrote a self-criticism.
The couple used to not live together and would only see each other once every few years. Wang Minggui was very grateful to Zhou Lian for raising the children and taking care of the family.
But as the saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt, and after the couple started living together, they discovered that their habits were quite different.
In order to get promoted, he started reading books over the years, even though he had never been to school before.
But Zhou Lian has said more than once that he's like a pig trying to pretend to be an elephant by sticking a scallion in its nose, and he even tries to act like that at home.
Wang Minggui always adhered to the principle of not offending anyone outside and maintaining good relationships with his neighbors, but Zhou Lian was different; she was petty and calculating.
Even Lu Yang, her good friend of many years, became estranged from Wang Minggui because of her, not to mention the neighbors.
Their different lifestyles and perspectives meant they had nothing in common. In addition, Zhou Lian kept pressuring Wang Minggui by saying that she had done him a great favor by taking care of his family, and demanded that Wang Minggui be tolerant in everything he did.
If he loses his temper and argues with her for even a few words, she'll point her finger at him and yell insults, calling him heartless.
All of this had left Wang Minggui exhausted.
Now I just hope she can take good care of the children.
But to his surprise, Zhou Lian once again opened his eyes to a whole new world, and he had no idea what trouble she would cause this time.
"I……"
Zhou Lian was already filled with panic, and the questioning from Director Shen and Director Zhang left her speechless. When she saw Wang Minggui for the first time, she hoped to get support from the man.
Even if she made a mistake, as long as Wang Minggui was willing to share the burden with her, Zhou Lian wasn't so afraid.
It wasn't until Wang Minggui came in that Zhou Lian realized how ridiculous her thoughts were.
She knew perfectly well that Wang Minggui always felt ashamed of her. Over the years, he had been climbing the ranks in the army in every way, and she, his wife from the countryside, was no longer good enough for him.
Zhou Lian didn't care before, since she had given birth to so many children for Wang Minggui, and even if he disliked her, they still had to live together.
But things are different now. She has made such a big mistake that if Wang Minggui uses it to blackmail her into divorcing him, she won't have the confidence to speak up.
"Battalion Commander Wang, did you notice anything unusual last night?"
Seeing that Zhou Lian couldn't say anything after a long time, Director Zhang had no choice but to ask Wang Minggui.
"Last night?" He pondered for a while but still had no clue, so he could only slowly shake his head.
"You don't even know where Zhou Lian went after leaving the family compound last night?"
"What? She went out tonight?"
Shen Chunjiao looked at Wang Minggui with a complicated expression. He didn't even know that his wife had gone out for several hours at night.
What is she going out for?
After Wang Minggui finished speaking, he immediately looked down at Zhou Lian, who lowered her head and dared not utter a sound.
Director Zhang had dealt with the couple a lot and knew them quite well, but now he couldn't control his tone and questioned Wang Minggui.
"Battalion Commander Wang, what can I say to you? She was out for so long last night and you didn't even know?"
Who would believe that? His house is so small that he doesn't even know if his wife is home.
Wang Minggui was somewhat speechless. His youngest son was in poor health and cried a lot after he was born. At first, he was placed on their bed, and he would cry every night when he was hungry or had a bowel movement.
Later, Wang Minggui couldn't sleep and complained a few times.
Zhou Lian was also angry that he was a hands-off husband. After the couple argued for a while, he carried a small bed into the house and placed it in a corner. From then on, he slept alone in the small bed.
Later, in order to pass the textile factory exam, Zhou Lian studied in the living room every day, leaving her child in Er Ya's room for her to take care of.
He felt more at ease sleeping on that little bed, but sometimes Er Ya couldn't manage, and Zhou Lian had to get up to soothe the child, so it was normal for her not to be in the room sometimes.
"Director Zhang, what exactly happened?"
Most people would suspect their wife of cheating if they heard her going out at night, but Wang Minggui knew Zhou Lian wouldn't.
She's only been here for a few months. If she wanted to cheat on him, she would have done so long ago when he rarely came home back in their hometown.
"I'll call Battalion Commander Lu in."
From the moment they brought Zhou Lian to the office, she reacted just like she had with the house incident – she would cry whenever they asked her anything, and no matter how much evidence they presented, she would refuse to admit anything or speak.
"Commander Wang, as you know, the textile factory recently organized a recruitment exam. Last night, after the exam papers were returned, I personally locked them in the office cabinet, and then locked the door before leaving."
When we came over this morning, the papers were gone from the cabinet, and we found no signs of forced entry in the room.
Wang Minggui simply couldn't believe that Zhou Lian would dare to do such a thing, and immediately thought they had made a mistake.
"Even if she really went out last night, she wouldn't dare to steal the test paper. Besides, what use would she have if she stole it?"
"It's no use?" Shen Chunjiao asked back.
"No, I mean she simply doesn't have the ability to come. Is there a misunderstanding?"
"Battalion Commander Lu?"
Lu Yangqing cleared his throat and recounted all his discoveries from the day, finally gesturing for Wang Minggui to look at the stack of test papers on the table.
"Director Shen and the others recognized the covers on the test papers; these were the ones they put in the cabinet last night. And this stack of test papers has been in your eldest son's schoolbag all this time."
He was supposed to go to school today, but for some reason he was wandering around the mountains with this backpack. Someone noticed his strange behavior and found these things, so they decided to take them to the family compound.
Lu Yang patted the large stack of thick white papers on the table, indicating to Wang Minggui.
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