The 1970s: Married First, Fell in Love Later-Chapter 163 - 162: Fired

"Qiming, can you find a new place for Mom to live? This place is so inconvenient. It’s bad enough there’s nowhere to shower, but I even have to line up and fight with all those people for the toilet. I’m seriously going to lose my mind."

Wang Qiming looked at the tiny room and nodded with a sigh.

"Okay, I’ll go look for a new place in a few days."

Hearing this, Li Wanqing happily grabbed Wang Qiming’s hand. "Find a bigger one. It needs a shower and a private bathroom, and a walk-in closet. It would be best to hire a maid, too. Xiao Min is hardly ever home, and neither you nor I know how to cook."

Wang Qiming looked at his mother. "Mom, you know my monthly allowance isn’t very high, and I didn’t save much money before. We need to keep some money to live on. I can find you a bigger place, but let’s not hire a maid. We can cook for ourselves. It’ll save money."

Li Wanqing wrestled with the idea for a long while before finally giving in.

Wang Shumin couldn’t stand it anymore. "If you ask me, Mom, you have a job. You should just go to work. At least you’d have an income, and we wouldn’t be draining our savings. My brother is jobless now, so if you don’t go back to work, what is our family supposed to do? Live on air?"

Li Wanqing shot Wang Shumin a glare. "You unfilial daughter! Do you think I don’t want to go? It’s just that those people are so nasty. They’re all making things difficult for me."

Li Wanqing used to be the director of the HR department at the electron tube factory. Now, she had been knocked back down to an ordinary worker at the sewing machine factory, where she had worked many years ago. How could she possibly endure such a drastic change in status?

Besides, many of the old-timers at the factory recognized her, and who knew how they were mocking her behind her back. After just one day of enduring countless disdainful looks and cold shoulders, Li Wanqing couldn’t take it anymore and simply decided to stay home.

She had already been lazing around at home for more than half a month.

"You won’t go to your job, my brother isn’t suited for it, and I still have school. If you’re absent without leave for too long, you’ll lose the job. What will you do then?"

Li Wanqing said nonchalantly, "If it’s gone, it’s gone. What kind of crappy job is it, anyway? I’ve wanted to quit for a long time."

Wang Shumin was at a complete loss for words. ’I really don’t want to come back to this home,’ she thought.

Wang Qiming hesitated for a moment. "Since Mom doesn’t want to go, let’s just sell the position."

Li Wanqing paused for a second, then nodded. "Okay, sell it."

’Either way, I’m not going back.’

Now that things were settled to her liking, Li Wanqing finally felt her stomach rumbling. Wang Shumin had no choice but to go and reheat the meal.

Li Wanqing looked at the bowl of congee and the small dish of pickled vegetables with disgust. "This is all we’re eating?"

"What else were you expecting to eat? Have you forgotten our current situation?" Wang Shumin said flatly.

Li Wanqing let out a frustrated sigh but drank the congee anyway.

"By the way, where did you two go so early this morning?"

At the mention of this, Wang Shumin shot a look at the silent Wang Qiming. "I took my brother to see our cousin, Xue Yue. Just so they could get acquainted and not be strangers if they meet in the future."

Li Wanqing frowned. "What was the point of seeing them? A bunch of poor relatives. Don’t get tangled up with them; you’ll never be able to shake them off."

"Hah. No wonder they don’t want to come and acknowledge us as relatives," Wang Shumin said mockingly. "Just listen to yourself. You’ve always looked down on them. But you can rest easy now—they have no desire to be associated with you whatsoever. And on top of that, my dear brother here greeted them with a barrage of snide remarks. Ironic, isn’t it? So tell me, who’s the one really disowning their own family?"

Li Wanqing looked at them in astonishment. "What? They actually dare to look down on *us*? Our family may have fallen on hard times, but we’re still better off than they are."

Wang Shumin sneered. "I wouldn’t be so sure about that. At least they have their own house in Beijing City. What about us? What do we have?"

"They bought a house? Where did they get the money?" Li Wanqing exclaimed in surprise.

Wang Shumin retorted sarcastically, "Why do you look down on people from the countryside so much? Are they all supposed to be poor? Why shouldn’t they be able to buy a house? No one stays poor forever."

Li Wanqing snorted. "Am I the one looking down on them? You think they’re such saints? They tried so hard to suck up to your Uncle Zheng—wasn’t that all for money? Your Uncle Zheng is probably the one who gave them the money in the first place."

"You’re being completely irrational."

"That’s enough, Xiao Min. Is that any way to talk to Mom?" Wang Qiming frowned at Wang Shumin, his eyes filled with disapproval.

Wang Shumin rolled her eyes and went out to wash the dishes.

Li Wanqing then pulled Wang Qiming aside and continued to pour out her woes.

「The next day.」

Wang Qiming went to the sewing machine factory to handle the transfer of the position, bringing the potential buyer with him. He was informed, however, that because Li Wanqing had been absent without leave for over two weeks, she had been automatically terminated. There was no position left to sell.

The buyer looked at Wang Qiming, completely bewildered. Wang Qiming tried to reason with the staff member, but they were blunt. "This rule is in our employee handbook. Your mother didn’t request a leave of absence or inform anyone; she just stopped showing up. The factory has every right to terminate her. If you don’t like it, feel free to report us wherever you please."

Hearing their resolute tone, Wang Qiming had no choice but to lead the buyer out of the factory.

The man was furious. "What the hell? Are you messing with me? I had the money all ready to go, and you’re trying to sell me a position that doesn’t even exist anymore because she was fired?"

Wang Qiming patiently explained the situation for a long time before the man finally left, still grumbling in dissatisfaction.

When he returned home, Li Wanqing was asleep again.

He sighed wearily. "Mom, even if you’re not going to work, you can’t just stay home and sleep all day."

"What else am I supposed to do besides sleep?" Li Wanqing mumbled, her eyes still hazy. "If I go out, all those society wives will see me in this state and laugh at me."

Wang Qiming glanced at the messy house and the unwashed dishes from breakfast. "You could do some housework?"

Li Wanqing pointed at herself. "I’ve never done housework in my entire life. You want me to start now, at my age?"

Wang Qiming couldn’t bring himself to criticize Li Wanqing, so he just rolled up his sleeves and started cleaning the house himself.

Li Wanqing glanced at him and asked quietly, "Did you sell the position? How much did you get for it?"

"Didn’t sell it," Wang Qiming replied without looking up.

Li Wanqing frowned. "Didn’t we agree to sell it? I’m telling you, I’m not going back there."

"You don’t have to go to work anymore. They fired you, so there’s no position left to sell."

"What? They fired me without even saying a word to me? Do they have any respect for me at all? I’m going to find the factory leadership and demand an explanation!"

Wang Qiming stated flatly, "You were absent without leave for half a month. You used to work in HR; you know this is standard procedure. We’re in the wrong. If the factory fires you, there’s nothing we can do about it."

Li Wanqing was stunned for a moment before she remembered. ’I guess there really is a rule like that. I forgot. If I had known, I would have sold it sooner. What a waste.’