The instant Zhao Jun saw Wang Ying, after the initial confusion and helplessness, there was even a flicker of secret delight.
—He thought that after experiencing an ordinary, uneventful life with Xu Shuang, Wang Ying had changed her mind. Otherwise, why would she be working at the sugar factory? And why did she show no surprise at seeing him?
Two years ago, Zhao Jun might not have thought this way. Back then, even if Wang Ying had turned back, he would have weighed the pros and cons—he might not even have agreed.
But now, two years later, although he deliberately tried not to dwell on it, he couldn’t stop himself from imagining—
That Wang Ying’s presence might, in fact, be somewhat important.
If Wang Ying were here, he could let go of Zhao Dong and Zhao Xi. In his previous life, he had hardly paid attention to how Wang Ying managed to win the children over, but in the end they had grown up obedient enough, with no major issues in either studies or character. If Wang Ying were here, he could devote himself entirely to his career. In just one year, he could give his professional path a strong start. If Wang Ying were here, he would come home every day to hot meals and step out the door in clean, tidy clothes. If Wang Ying were here…
So at the moment he saw her, after the shock, he unconsciously let out a breath—like glimpsing the dawn of life returning to its proper track.
But before that breath was fully released, Wang Ying’s icy expression and words instantly knocked him back to reality.
She looked at him as though she were looking at something filthy—she might as well have written “keep your distance” across her face.
“Comrade, if you’re not here for treatment, please step outside. Don’t delay my consultation.”
Zhao Jun tightened his jaw. After a moment, he gave a mocking laugh. “Wang Ying, are you really going to pretend you don’t know me? Is that necessary?”
As if he were the one trying to cling to her.
Wang Ying let out a cold laugh. “That’s funny. We’ve never had any relationship. If we’re being precise, the only connection between us is that my cousin married you, right? Cousin-in-law? How has my cousin been lately? Are you two living well?”
Doctor Yang hadn’t left the consultation room yet. She stared, dumbfounded, as Wang Ying delivered her cutting sarcasm, watching Zhao Jun’s face change colors.
Zhao Jun’s expression turned as ugly as if someone had punched him. After a long pause, he forced out, “I’m here for my child. He had a fever recently and was hospitalized for a week. Check whether the infection’s cleared up and if he still needs injections.”
Wang Ying had deliberately brought up Wang Lingling, but he couldn’t follow her down that path. After all, Wang Lingling had gone to prison. Ever since he started working at the sugar factory, he had intentionally downplayed his second marriage… A widower with two children could still find a wife. But a widower with an imprisoned ex-wife? Once that got out, even widows—no matter how desperate—would think twice.
With just a few sentences, Wang Ying had already pushed him into retreat.
She put on her mask and began examining Zhao Dong, placing a thermometer under the boy’s arm.
After the examination, she said in a businesslike tone, “There’s no major issue. No need for further injections. Keep his diet light for now—nothing hard to digest. Make sure he stays warm and doesn’t catch a chill.”
From the moment Wang Ying began examining Zhao Dong, Zhao Jun watched her intently, without blinking.
He was searching her face for even a trace of affection toward the child.
But unfortunately, there was none.
Wang Ying remained completely professional throughout, showing no special concern for Zhao Dong whatsoever.
A chill ran through Zhao Jun.
In his previous life, Wang Ying had cared deeply for the children. After Zhao Dong went to university, she had delivered meals to him almost every week, afraid he wasn’t eating or dressing well enough. During Zhao Xi’s early years as a celebrity, she had followed her from set to set, never leaving her side, worried the girl might suffer any grievance.
Could all that love have been fake?
Thinking of Wang Ying’s earlier retort—“Should I have waited until Zhao Xi turned eighteen before having a child of my own?”—Zhao Jun racked his brain but still couldn’t understand.
The children had called her “Mom.” They had already been a family. Why did she have to be so calculating? Was it truly that important whether she bore her own child? But if they had another child, wouldn’t Zhao Dong and Zhao Xi have been hurt?
Why had she been so selfish? For such a seemingly trivial reason, why abandon the predetermined path of their previous life—throw away a perfectly good life—and choose a completely different road instead?
After finishing the consultation, Wang Ying went to the sink and washed her hands, not sparing Zhao Jun another glance before walking out.
As soon as she stepped out of the examination room, Doctor Yang followed and asked quietly, “You know Deputy Captain Zhao?”
Wang Ying thought for a moment and found a convenient explanation. “He had some unpleasantness with my cousin before.”
Doctor Yang let out a breath of relief and didn’t press for details. After a brief guess, she assumed perhaps Zhao Jun had once been set up on a blind date with Wang Ying’s cousin? Otherwise, why would Wang Ying have sarcastically called him “cousin-in-law”?
Tsk tsk. That unpleasantness must have been very unpleasant indeed.
For a moment in there, the tense atmosphere had almost made her think Wang Ying and Zhao Jun had some deep-seated grudge.
Out of the corner of her eye, Wang Ying saw Zhao Jun leading Zhao Dong out of the examination room. She deliberately raised her voice a little. “It’s all in the past now. If Deputy Captain Zhao hadn’t questioned me just now, I almost wouldn’t have remembered. The world really is small—I never imagined he’d transfer to our sugar factory. By the way, Doctor Yang, has Deputy Captain Zhao found a wife yet?”
Doctor Yang, with her back to Zhao Jun and not realizing he was still within earshot, replied casually, “Not yet. He’s gone on quite a few blind dates since coming, but… well, the right fate hasn’t arrived.”
Wang Ying chuckled. “Exactly. It’s not easy to meet the right fate.”
Zhao Jun stared at Wang Ying expressionlessly until Zhao Dong gave an uncomfortable whimper. Only then did he realize he had been gripping the child’s wrist too tightly.
He let out a cold laugh and turned to leave with the boy.
He, Zhao Jun, would not degrade himself by clinging to a woman.
If Wang Ying wanted to go their separate ways under the same sky, then he would grant her that wish.
There was plenty of time ahead. He refused to believe he couldn’t find someone better than Wang Ying.
Wang Ying hummed lightly as she returned to the office. Zhang Na came back in between sips of water and looked surprised. “Sister Ying, what’s got you in such a good mood? Something good happen?”
Wasn’t it good? That annoying, self-important man wouldn’t come bother her again. And seeing him not doing well—it felt sweeter than honey.
“Mm-hmm. I heard the cafeteria has winter melon stir-fried with pork at noon. Let’s go early.”
Zhang Na immediately perked up. “Deal! I won’t even take my break—I’ll hurry and finish giving injections so we can go early!”
Workdays always flew by. In the blink of an eye, it was late autumn.
One morning, Wang Ying struggled to get up. The moment her hand touched the air outside the quilt, she jerked it back inside. After a long internal battle, she finally stretched her arm out shakily to grope for her clothes.
Xu Shuang had just come back with breakfast and saw a pale white arm flailing at the bedside. He quickly stepped forward and tucked her hand back under the covers.
“Aren’t you cold? Why are you sticking your arm out?”
Half-asleep, Wang Ying mumbled, “I have to go to work…”
Xu Shuang sighed. “You’re really muddled from sleep. It’s your day off. What work?”
That one sentence woke her up instantly. “Oh right! No work today!”
“I’ll put your clothes by the stove. Once they’re warm, you can put them on.”
Wang Ying poked her head out of the quilt, a little tuft of hair sticking up on top.
“Just warm them a bit. I have to get up soon. I’m going with Auntie Liu to grab some fruit today. They say the produce station got a batch of pears and some tangerines.”
Only after moving to the city had she realized why people maintained close relationships with neighbors. In collective living, being excluded was a nightmare.
When rare goods arrived at the supply cooperative, when the produce station stocked certain vegetables or fruits, how to find someone transferring part of their coal quota…
These weren’t things one person could figure out alone.
You couldn’t rely on the neighborhood office to announce everything over loudspeakers. News traveled by word of mouth among neighbors.
Wang Ying forced herself awake and pulled on her thick clothes. “Go ask Master for his ration coupons too. I’ll buy some for him.”
Xu Shuang said, “Should I go with you? You might have trouble carrying everything.”
“No, don’t go! Auntie Ma and Auntie Xu are going too. If you go, you’ll just end up carrying their baskets!”
She wasn’t exaggerating. Auntie Liu had complained before—whenever she brought her son along, those two aunties always made him carry their things. Carrying wasn’t the issue; the problem was everything getting mixed together and then arguing over who bought what afterward. It was exhausting.
Wang Ying firmly believed in the wisdom of listening to advice, so she refused Xu Shuang’s company.
“You stay home and ask Brother Liu how they made that thick door curtain. Master doesn’t have one, and it’s getting too cold not to. The heat just escapes. Once you find out, we’ll get one today. Also, the stove I ordered should be ready—go pick it up. When I get back, we’ll connect the heated brick bed flue and start using it today…”
Xu Shuang didn’t mind being assigned tasks at all. He nodded along obediently before returning to life’s three essential questions.
“What do you want to eat for lunch?”
Wang Ying swallowed her millet porridge and thought for a moment. “Ask Master what he wants. We still have those fish we brought back from the village. Maybe ask if he’d like grilled fish hotpot?”
After sorting out household matters, Wang Ying grabbed her basket and ration coupons and headed out. Their courtyard was usually quiet, but on rest days it was lively.
Like now. Beneath the grape trellis—bare and tangled in winter—several men were sitting. Wang Ying took a quick look: two from the Xu family, two from the Ma family, two from the Liu family, and a few unfamiliar faces, probably from the neighboring courtyard. They were deeply engrossed in a chess game.
Wang Ying didn’t greet them. Instead, she called toward the Liu household door:
“Auntie Liu, Sister-in-law Tang, shall we go?”
Auntie Liu responded and came out with her eldest daughter-in-law.
Ma Dalian and Old Madam Xu at the gate also heard the commotion and each came out carrying baskets.
Wang Ying looked around. Any woman in the courtyard who happened to be free today had followed along—Ma Dalian with her two daughters-in-law, Old Madam Xu with Zhang Yun, and Auntie Liu with her eldest daughter-in-law.
Wang Ying was a little puzzled. “We’re just going to grab some fruit. Do we really need this many people?”
Ma Dalian shrank back slightly. Recently, she had been unusually well-behaved and hadn’t caused Wang Ying any trouble at all. As for the reason?
Her second and third sons had come home and told her that Wang Ying’s husband, Xu Shuang, was now the head chef at the state-run restaurant.
Ever since offending Chen Dong, Ma Dalian had developed a healthy fear of the words “head chef.” When she thought about how Xu Shuang had become a head chef at such a young age…
Wouldn’t that mean he’d eventually be in charge of the state-run restaurant? Perhaps even become a leader in the future?
She didn’t dare stir up trouble anymore. What if Xu Shuang decided to get back at her for his wife’s sake and made life difficult for her sons?
As for Old Madam Xu, she had failed to incite Ma Dalian and had also failed to sow discord between Wang Ying and Xu Shuang. Instead, she was so jealous of the young couple’s good life she could hardly stand it.
The most infuriating part was that every time she made an extra comment, at most three days later the Xu family would cook meat.
And whenever they cooked meat, the children in the courtyard would make a fuss. The Liu family could exchange favors with Wang Ying, but the Xu family didn’t have a good relationship with her. Even if Old Madam Xu shamelessly went to ask, it might not work.
Old Madam Xu fumed inwardly—the two of them must be doing it on purpose!
Unfortunately, this hit her where it hurt most. Her grandson, Dabao, would always kick up a fuss—crying and rolling on the ground—only to be beaten by Zhang Yun in the end. After it happened repeatedly, even Old Madam Xu had resigned herself to it and had recently become much quieter.
When Wang Ying asked, Old Madam Xu stayed silent. Ma Dalian, however, spoke quickly.
“Oh, well, winter cabbage storage season is almost here. I’m having them keep an eye out—once it arrives, they’ll run back and let everyone know.”
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