Daily Life in the 70s-Chapter 117 Helping

Yang PeiMin mailed the unaltered letter along with some food to Shen Yiguang the very next day.

Chen Guizhi, having been praised for her culinary skills by her son, was in high spirits and prepared some dried meat and cured pork for him that evening.

After that, Yang PeiMin returned to teaching at the school.

Today, when she returned to the office, it seemed different.

Bright windows, clean desks, the textbooks and cups on every teacher’s desk were placed meticulously, not a thing out of order.

Sister Huang, the homeroom teacher for the second grade, nodded towards the empty desk that belonged to Hao Qinghui, her meaning quite clear.

"Was it Mr. Hao who did this?" Yang PeiMin suddenly said.

Another educated youth female teacher sighed and shook her head at her, "Not at all."

Yang PeiMin was puzzled; one said it was him, while the other said it wasn’t.

Sister Huang pulled her aside and whispered, "It was Mr. Hao’s girlfriend who helped clean up."

Yang PeiMin was somewhat surprised, "Mr. Hao has a girlfriend?" Everyone had been sharing the same office for a month and during that time, there had been no entertainment, so even the male teachers had joined the women in their gossiping pastime. They all more or less knew each other’s situations, but she had never heard about Mr. Hao having a girlfriend.

She glanced at Sister Huang, seeking confirmation with her eyes. Seeing her expression, it seemed like there was a story to be told, and Yang PeiMin’s interest was immediately piqued. She checked her watch; there were fifteen minutes before class started, so she sat down beside Sister Huang. freewёbnoνel.com

Sister Huang welcomed her as a listener and lowered her voice by two degrees, "Mr. Hao’s girlfriend is named Liu Aihong, the daughter of Accountant Liu from Shangling Team. Ever since Mr. Hao was assigned here, she has set her sights on him, even asking someone to gauge Mr. Hao’s interest. But who would have known, Mr. Hao gently refused her."

Liu Aihong wasn’t discouraged and seemed to have ignited a fighting spirit. Without caring for the modesty expected of a girl, she not just sent a matchmaker to propose but also shamelessly followed Mr. Hao around all day.

She took the initiative to clean his place, helped with laundry, cooking, and such, causing the colleagues he lived with to feel awkward. An exasperated Hao Qinghui had even asked the village women’s director to come over and persuade her. After much talking, they finally convinced her to go back. But it wasn’t long before she repeated her actions; she not only helped around Mr. Hao’s place but also followed him to our school and cleaned the teachers’ offices, prompting the students to call her Mrs. Hao...

Yang PeiMin hadn’t seen Liu Aihong during her month substitute teaching because Liu Aihong’s family had a death, her grandma passed away. It was considered taboo to visit other people’s homes during that month because it could bring bad luck or an ominous air to the hosts.

As they were discussing this, Mr. Hao walked in, with his rumored girlfriend following behind.

Yang PeiMin couldn’t help but observe this girl named Liu Aihong; tall and robust, with a round apple face, circular eyes, a round nose, slightly dark skin, dressed not much different from the girls in the village. She trailed behind Mr. Hao, every step matching his, quite the image of a dutiful wife. Indeed, by appearances, she didn’t seem to be a match for the refined and gentle Mr. Hao.

The other teachers exchanged glances, unsure whether to laugh or to sigh.

Hao Qinghui walked briskly, grabbed his textbook from the desk, and looked ready to head out to teach his class.

As she passed by Yang Peimin’s desk, she saw her freeze for a moment, but quickly nodded to acknowledge her, as a greeting.

Then she quickly left the classroom. From his back, one could still sense his repressed anger, and then they heard the anxious voice of Liu Aihong calling after him, "Mr. Hao, watch the steps, mind your feet!"

"Comrade Liu Aihong, your help isn’t needed here, please go back," Hao Qinghui’s stern voice faintly made its way inside.

Yang Peimin and her colleagues were looking at each other with some confusion.

Sister Huang sighed, "Liu Aihong is thick-skinned, and stubborn too, she won’t listen to advice. It’s really putting Mr. Hao through a lot."

One of the male teachers with the surname Gao also said, "Mr. Hao is an educated man, how could he marry an illiterate village girl?"

The female educated youths felt a kinship of shared misfortune, "Exactly, once you get tangled up with people like that, they stick to you like psoriasis, impossible to shake off. If she manages to pester and meddle her way to success, wouldn’t it just be infuriating?"

Hearing everyone unanimously denounce Liu Aihong, the oldest among them, Mr. Chen, could not hold back his words, "Liu Aihong’s sincere devotion is rare, if Mr. Hao isn’t already committed to someone, maybe he could consider it. It’s hard to find someone so devoted." He shook his head and sighed.

Mr. Chen, who was already over fifty, always maintained a strict demeanor, barely joking and always serious with his colleagues. It was unexpected that he would speak on behalf of Liu Aihong now.

Yang Peimin felt awkward—affairs of the heart must be mutual. Mr. Hao’s attitude had already made everything clear; if one person is invested and the other is not, it’s not right to force them together. Even if they were forcibly joined together, a coerced melon is not sweet.

She couldn’t help but feel some sympathy for Mr. Hao. Perhaps it was because he had once done her a favor, and because he was upright and sincere by nature, and a colleague, Yang Peimin naturally found herself seeing things from his perspective.

Liu Aihong’s behavior had seriously affected his life and work, all for her self-interest, without considering the feelings of others. Yang Peimin had lost all patience with the girl.

Curiosity arose, what had Hao Qinghui done to cause Liu Aihong’s infatuation and persistence, or was it love at first sight?

As everyone had their two cents to add, the time for class was upon them.

Yang Peimin gathered her thoughts, picked up her teaching plan, and headed towards the classroom.

After her class, she could still see Liu Aihong peeking into the fifth-grade class where Hao Qinghui was teaching math across from her.

Their class hadn’t ended yet, apparently with some issues that still needed to be addressed, so she planned to take the long way around to the office.

As she passed by Liu Aihong, she called out to her, "Comrade Liu Aihong, what’s up with you? Watching Mr. Hao teach? It looks like they’re about to finish. With the wind blowing like this, shouldn’t we wait in the office?"

Liu Aihong turned around and looked her up and down dismissively, "You’re Mr. Yang, right? What’s the big deal about a bit of wind? Mr. Hao is the one who’s having it hard, standing for almost an hour, using so much brainpower and speaking so much." By the end, she furrowed her brows, showing a pained expression.

Yang Peimin twitched the corners of her mouth, smiled, and suggested again, "Comrade Liu, look, Mr. Hao must be thirsty after a class of talking. Why don’t you go to the office and prepare a pot of sugar water for him, keep it warm, so he can have a drink when he comes back, to moisten his throat. He still has classes to keep on."

Liu Aihong actually took this suggestion to heart and nodded in agreement.