Witty Wife, Better Life-Chapter 43 - 41 Starting Life as a Shift Leader
Chapter 43: Chapter 41: Starting Life as a Shift Leader
Chapter 43 -41: Starting Life as a Shift Leader
“What did she say?” The second aunt asked somewhat dumbly, not really catching onto it.
“Oh my dear lord, she might well have openly demanded it from me, and you still haven’t caught on?” Shen Yunfeng’s face was a picture of disbelief.
The second aunt slapped her daughter’s thigh, “If I couldn’t catch on to that, I’d be a fool.” Despite her words, her expression clearly showed that she still didn’t quite understand.
Shen Yunfeng sighed. Country folks just don’t have the awareness, she wondered why she hadn’t been born into a better family.
“Mom, when it’s people of my father-in-law’s stature, listening can’t be just about the surface level. Like what Shen Yunfang said today, it was plainly a threat. If I don’t give her the money, she’d starve to death…”
“Listen to her bluffing. Didn’t she say she just borrowed a hundred kilos of grain from your uncle? Are you stupid to believe her?” The second aunt said angrily, giving her daughter another smack on the thigh.
Turns out this daughter of hers has some smarts about her, so why’s she acting so foolish today? Handing over money and even increasing it when asked. If she really has too much money burning a hole in her pocket, she could at least honor her own mother.
“Oh, Mom, haven’t you heard that saying, the barefooted aren’t afraid of those with shoes? Being a mere commoner, if she really got into a rage and went around clamoring that I starved someone to death, it wouldn’t even matter if it was just starving, let alone death, that’d be unacceptable.
My father-in-law is in such a position right now; you wouldn’t believe how many people are envious and watching him closely, just waiting to find fault with him so they can pull him down and take his place. If she really starts spreading nonsense everywhere, wouldn’t it be like handing a weapon to the enemies? If something really happens to my father-in-law’s job because of this, wouldn’t I become the Xue Family’s sinner?
And besides, Xue Jialong is counting on my father-in-law too. If anything happens to him, I wouldn’t want to live anymore.
Think about it, which matters more, which matters less!” Shen Yunfeng said as she pulled her mother into analyzing the situation with her.
She had not yet mentioned that if this affected her father-in-law, even slightly, her mother-in-law would eat her alive.
The second aunt knew her daughter hadn’t secured a firm place in the Xue Family yet. When the two youngsters were dating, the Xue Family matriarch was actually against it, but Jialong liked her daughter, and since you can’t go against your own son, they finally accepted her daughter into the family. But the attitude towards the daughter-in-law was always lukewarm.
The second aunt herself had felt troubled for a while, but now things were better; her daughter was pregnant. As long as her belly did the job well and delivered a fat grandson for the Xue Family, her daughter would effectively be running the show there.
“Is it that serious?” The second aunt became somewhat uncertain, yet thinking of the grandchild in her daughter’s belly, she regained her confidence, “Stop worrying, you’re carrying the Xue Family’s eldest grandson in your tummy, no one would dare to do anything to you.”
It was only when her mother mentioned the child in her belly that Shen Yunfeng remembered she was pregnant, and then she felt a little discomfort in her stomach, some lingering pains. “Ah, Mom, my stomach hurts a bit.”
Shen Yunfang returned to the procurement station and began working formally that afternoon.
Without any instructions, she spotted a large broom against the wall, picked it up, and started to sweep the snow in the courtyard.
The front and back courtyards were covered with a thick layer of snow; it was evident that no one had swept it regularly. She had her own little plans and hoped to make a good impression right from the start.
Jian Hui had lunch and then knitted in the duty room, heating herself by the stove. She looked through the window at the girl named Shen Yunfang bustling about with a large broom.
After sweeping the front yard, she went to the back and, after a while, returned to the front, only to see her attempting to sweep the main road outside with the broom.
Is this child a bit simple-minded?
“Xiaoshen, stop working. You’ve been at it all afternoon, take a rest, come inside and warm up,” Jian Hui called out, pushing open the door of the duty room to the girl sweeping snow on the main road.
Shen Yunfang straightened her back and wiped the sweat from her nose with her sleeve, exhausted. “Eh, I’m just about finished here.”
Then she put away the broom where it belonged and trotted into the duty room.
The duty room and the dormitory where she would stay were two adjoining rooms.
Shen Yunfang went inside and saw that the room was not large. Against one wall stood a wooden table, just like the one in her room, adorned with a thermos and two enamel cups. There was a stove in the middle of the room, and at that time, a kettle of water sat on it.
Against another wall stood a metal cabinet, but she had no idea what was inside.
There were only two chairs in the room. One was placed against the wall while the other sat beside the stove where Jian Hui was knitting a sweater.
“You really are a sincere child, getting straight to work as soon as you arrive. Come over and warm up for a while.”
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Obediently, Shen Yunfang dragged the chair from the wall over to sit beside Jian Hui and cozy up to her.
However, the chair had a problem with its leg that she was unaware of, and she nearly stumbled as she sat down.
“Be careful, the leg of the chair has a bit of an issue. I didn’t have the chance to tell you,” Jian Hui said, timely grabbing Shen Yunfang’s arm to prevent her from falling.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. I was just startled,” Shen Yunfang said, having regained her balance, and patted her chest.
“Hehe, got a fright, didn’t you? That chair always has that problem,” Jian Hui said, letting go once she was sure Shen Yunfang had stabilized.
Shen Yunfang inspected the chair and noticed that when it was left alone, one wouldn’t realize without a closer look that it was uneven—one leg was shorter. “It’s not a big problem, something placed under the leg to prop it up would work fine.”
“Haha, you even know about this, that’s wonderful. There are tools in that cabinet, tinker with it whenever you have the time.”
This little mishap made Jian Hui find the young woman quite interesting, and her attitude toward her grew warmer.
Upon hearing this, Shen Yunfang’s eyes gleamed with excitement. She really wanted to go and see what tools were there right then, but she suppressed the impulse and chose an angle to sit down. Then, she began to chat with Jian Hui about household matters.
And, to tell you the truth, her spy work was very successful. With her deliberate guidance of the conversation, in no time she had almost fully grasped the situation at the whole recycling station from Jian Hui.
First thing was certain, the management of the recycling station was lax. All items received were recorded, but the records were not detailed. For example, if a bundle of books was received, Jian Hui would merely note the weight in the ledger, not the specific titles. Moreover, since the inception of the recycling station, no one had come to check whether the items listed in the ledger matched with the actual items in the backyard.
After learning this, Shen Yunfang was overjoyed. For her, this meant there was room to maneuver.
Secondly, the workload at the recycling station was not heavy—actually, it was quite light.
In this era of extreme material scarcity, there was a popular saying, “New for three years, old for three years, patched and mended, another three years.” Although this saying appears to discuss clothing, its spirit had permeated every aspect of people’s production and life.
People of this era never treated thrift as merely sloganizing or showing off. Each person firmly remembered Chairman Mao’s adage that “corruption and waste are great crimes.” They scrimped on food and clothing, living frugally and calculating carefully in their daily lives.
Their belief was in the worth of a home’s wealth, not in the idea that the old must go before the new can come.
Therefore, the number of people who came to the recycling station to sell scrap was small, and even when ordinary citizens did come to sell scrap, the station didn’t buy everything indiscriminately, since indeed there were some items without any value for reuse which they would not accept.
The station had been busiest when they first opened. Now, they had more idle time.
The main reason Shen Yunfeng had felt tired after arriving here was due to her lofty self-regard as a rural girl—a combination of inferiority and pride.
She felt inferior because she came from the countryside yet felt superior for marrying into a cadre’s family, so when she transferred to a new workplace, she wanted to carry herself in a way that would earn everyone’s respect.
The result was she got pushed around. The untidy warehouse had no particular order, but upon her arrival, she demanded everything be arranged neatly. She was asked to demonstrate the revolutionary spirit of fearlessly enduring hardship as a rural girl until she had to go home to rest due to pregnancy.
