Lin Shiheng did not seem to notice the strange atmosphere between these several women. While holding the clothes in his hand, he asked, “Li-jie?”
“Oh, no problem. Leave it to me.”
Li-jie was older and calmer. Without mentioning what Zhou Qianqian had said just now, she smiled and picked up the clothes. “This is good material,” she said, admiring it.
“I don’t understand clothes, it’s what the sales person recommended. Then, please Li-jie if you will. My wife is still at home, I’ll go back first. Tomorrow, I take some good wine to your family’s son-in-law.”
“Hey, come on… why bring wine?”
Zhou Qianqian looked stiff, holding the plastic bag in her hand without saying a word. She looked at Lin Shiheng and Li-jie politely exchanging words and leaving with a smile.
As soon as he left, a military wife who normally disliked her immediately opened her mouth: “What did someone say just now? Eat a plastic bag?”
“Ah! Don’t talk so much…”
Li-jie quickly grabbed her and said, “Qianqian is young and ignorant. She had never had contact with Commander Lin, so she misunderstood him. If the misunderstanding is over, then it’s over. Okay, it’s getting late. Let’s go now.”
She deliberately gave her a way out, but Zhou Qianqian refused to lower her head. Her face was livid and he threw the plastic bag in her hand to the ground. “Who knows if she would wear it or not? You’ll see! He’s been pretending all day, but he won’t keep pretending!”
“Sooner or later, you will realize who’s at fault!”
After she finished speaking, she left angrily, leaving the laughing military wives. “Has she gone crazy?”
“She’s a little girl, who knows what she’s thinking.”
Besides, when she said ‘if Commander Lin buys his wife a new dress, she would eat that plastic bag’. If she is right, she didn’t have to add that they aren’t allowed to tell Commander Lin. With this sentence added, as soon as Commander Lin buys clothes, despite someone telling him or not, Zhou Qianqian could say that someone did.
Unfortunately, even God didn’t help her. As soon as this sentence was said, Commander Lin came back with new clothes.
“Okay, stop talking. It’s late. Hurry back.”
“Li-jie, don’t be such a good person anymore. Didn’t you see that Zhou Qianqian didn’t appreciate it at all? Look, she has lost face today. In the future, I’m sure she would go around and spread rumors about Commander Lin.”
“I really don’t know what to think. We all came to the army base. Can’t she live a good life with her husband? Commander Lin is in charge of her man. Isn’t she afraid to make trouble for her family by making such a fool of herself?”
“It’s because of Commander Lin’s good temper, he wouldn’t use his position to get even for a private grudge. Let’s leave it alone. Li-jie, Ah Qiao is right. Zhou Qianqian is too much. She blames you for helping her. And as I see it, she’ll talk nonsense in the future. She’ll offend Commander Lin again. Look how well you treat her and how she hates you. All the men in our family are still working under Commander Lin, it’s better to stay away from her.”
They took turns persuading Li-jie. Although she did not think that Commander Lin was a hateful man, she was still worried about it affecting her own man. “Okay, I know, I will pay attention to it later.”
She thought that if Commander Lin had bought his wife such beautiful new clothes, Zhou Qianqian would never be so brainless and gossip around, would she?
Zhou Qianqian had no brains.
She lost her face this time and all her resentment and humiliation were put on Lin Shiheng’s head.
He must have done it intentionally, otherwise how could he have not mentioned his wife for three years and suddenly brought her to the base and buy new clothes?
There is also Miao Xing-jie. Zhou Qianqian felt distressed when she remembered the sadness on her face when she saw her last time. If Lin Shiheng doesn’t cherish the good Miao-jie, she can just spread some false rumors.
Miao Xing is a new age woman. She is Qianqian’s most admired person. How could she pursue Lin Shiheng when she knew she had a wife?
Zhou Qianqian became even more angry. She even wanted to meet Lin Shiheng’s dear wife. Just thinking of her losing so much face, and how she would be ridiculed when going outside; she could only sit back angrily.
She was not foolish either. She knew that she would be laughed at these days, she stayed in the house for several days before coming out.
With so many people in the courtyard, it’s no big deal to not get along with those people.
Zhou Qianqian went to do the laundry with a washbasin in her arms. She saw a woman in her forties bending over to wash clothes. Her eyes immediately lit up.
This is Zhang-sao, a person who normally likes to pass on gossip the most.
(嫂 [sǎo] = elder madam/ elder sister-in-law/ serviceman’s wife; wives of military personnel)
Zhou Qianqian put the basin next to her, said hello, and began to lead the topic to Lin Shiheng stealthily.
“What? He didn’t mention his wife for three years? No way…”
Zhang-sao had a surprised expression. “Qianqian, have you not been out these days? In the past two days, some soldiers came to the courtyard to see Commander Lin’s wife. They said that Commander Lin always mentioned his wife to them, always boasting about her. When the person came, they could hardly wait to see her.”
Zhou Qianqian was taken by surprise when she heard the answer. She clearly remembered that not many people knew about Lin Shiheng’s wife.
“No one knew!”
Zhang-sao kindly explained: “Commander Lin loves his wife dearly. As long as he isn’t training, he won’t leave his wife’s side. Look, since his wife came, he accompanied her whenever he was free. A few days ago, he bought pots, bowls and pans, and so on. We also talked a bit, he said that when his wife would cook, he felt bad.”
“Commander Lin said; it’s because his wife was practicing writing recently and was still tired after making clothes for him. He said that he would not let his wife start cooking. Every day, he would wave a spatula to cook!”
Zhou Qianqian listened with a startled face. “How can that be possible? If he really loves his wife, he wouldn’t let her stay in his hometown for three years.”
“You, this child… you didn’t ask? When he was young, Commander Lin lost his father and was brought up by his mother alone. He was an only son. If he went to the army and took his wife with him, wont his mother be alone at home? ”
“This time, they are making a new house at their hometown. Commander Lin’s wife came along with him because it’s inconvenient for her pregnancy. She has been taking care of her mother-in-law at home for three years, but it’s not like how you said it was. You can’t spread that round. It’s a good thing you said this to me, if it was someone else, people would say that you made these rumors on purpose.”
“Okay, I’m done. I’ll go first.”
Zhou Qianqian dazedly watched Zhang-sao leave.
How was it possible?
Didn’t Miao-jie say that Lin Shiheng never mentioned his wife to her at all? How come Zhang-sao say that a lot of people knew about it now?
No, no, Miao Xing won’t lie to her.
Lin Shiheng is just pretending to be good, and she wants to know how he could leave his newly married wife when he just got married.
She didn’t believe it. Everyone in the army said that Lin Shiheng was good.
Zhou Qianqian did not wash her clothes. While holding the washtub, she went back. After only a few steps, she saw a young man with a bitter face, quivering with each step. The dusty young man swayed weakly.
Curiously, she grabbed a woman who was sitting on a bench mending her insoles and asked, “Who is that? I’ve never seen him.”
“Him? The brother of Commander Lin’s wife.”
The woman bit off the string and casually replied, “It’s too bad. He was fined 50 laps on the field just now. After stopping, he added 10 laps. In addition to training these days, he just watched him run on the field.”
Zhou Qianqian’s eyes lit up a little.
She thought that she had found evidence that Commander Lin hated his wife!
If you love someone, how can you treat her brother like this?