Xu Lei was still completely unaware that he was being watched. Meanwhile, the newly appointed courtyard head, Liu Dama, gathered the households for a meeting.
“Starting today, our courtyard will no longer be counted together with the one next door. We’re now an independent courtyard. I know it’s not easy to force everyone to maintain good relations, but I still want to emphasize this: minor frictions are inevitable, but distant relatives are not as close as nearby neighbors. Don’t be the one who starts trouble. If something really happens, I won’t take anyone’s side—I’ll stand on the side of reason.”
Liu Dama made her stance clear. In her younger years she had worked and was a decisive, energetic woman. Now that she had taken on responsibility, she wouldn’t shrink from it.
As soon as she said this, both the Ma and Xu families looked displeased.
Ma Dalian had always had a sharp tongue, but she felt she had never had any major conflict with Liu Dama. They even went grocery shopping together. Wasn’t that closer than Liu Dama was with Xu Dama? Why speak so bluntly and refuse to stand on her side?
As for Xu Dama, she felt Liu Dama was too cunning and cold-hearted. Nothing had gone well for her family recently. First, they had been beaten by the Ma family. Then, presumably because Yangdan had told his grandmother about the cabbage incident, Ma Dalian now made sarcastic remarks about “thieves” whenever she saw her. Even Liu Dama had moved her drying trays of radish strips indoors, placing them somewhere visible from inside the house.
That action deeply offended Xu Dama. She cursed the two of them a thousand times in her heart.
Didn’t they realize that if her family were living well, she wouldn’t be coveting their scraps? They all lived in the same courtyard—why were those two families doing so much better, and still lacking compassion?
Xu Dama felt both aggrieved and resentful.
Among everyone in the courtyard, Wang Ying actually found Liu Dama’s words very agreeable.
These days, sentiment often outweighed reason. Sometimes, even if someone was clearly in the wrong, as long as they played the victim, others had to swallow their grievances. Wang Ying disliked that mentality. If right and wrong didn’t matter, then why bother working hard to live well? Whoever suffered the most would automatically be right.
The first courtyard meeting ended hastily. Before dismissing everyone, Liu Dama casually added:
“Xu Lei, about the house swap you asked about earlier—unfortunately, the two vacant rooms in the neighboring courtyard have already been assigned. It was almost at the same time you inquired. So it probably won’t work out for you.”
Wang Ying glanced at Xu Lei in surprise. Just because of the fight, this family was planning to move?
Xu Lei muttered about bad luck, though nothing showed on his face.
He sighed. “I was just asking around. If there’s no opportunity, then we won’t move. I grew up in this courtyard. If it weren’t for my Dabao causing trouble, I wouldn’t want to leave. Living here now, I just feel I’ve let everyone down…”
In truth, Xu Lei did want to move. The recent incident had caused a stir, and he had a persistent sense that something wasn’t right in this courtyard—like a giant net slowly spreading in the shadows.
In his line of work, intuition could be frighteningly accurate.
He thought moving too far away would make him look guilty. The best option was to exchange housing within the same work unit, perhaps in one of the nearby courtyards. Though his home only had two rooms, the total area was large. He could even trade for three smaller rooms.
But since Liu Dama said there were no vacant houses next door, that plan had to be abandoned.
After Xu Lei finished speaking, Ma Yongjun sneered. “You’re not even a restaurant waiter anymore. Stop dreaming!”
Liu Dama said nothing. In fact, that was true. If Xu Lei still had his job at the restaurant, he might have been eligible to exchange housing. But now, in reality, he only retained the nominal housing assignment—his work affiliation was no longer with the restaurant. When Liu Dama had inquired, the subdistrict office told her that even if there were vacancies, Xu Lei wouldn’t qualify.
Xu Lei felt furious whenever Ma Yongjun opened his mouth. That idiot even dared to mock him!
Damn it. When the time came for him to leave, he would sell all of Ma Yongjun’s children as far away as possible!
The missing child incident seemed to pass like a gust of wind. Soon, the people in the courtyard forgot about it.
The main reason was simple—
The New Year was approaching!
Wang Ying had just gone to work when Dr. Yang called her over.
“Our factory has special allowances for pregnant women. Now that you’re expecting, you’re entitled to five jin of eggs and half a jin of brown sugar. Do you want to collect them now, or wait until after you give birth? If you want them now, I’ll write you a voucher.”
This was one of the conveniences of working in a directly affiliated unit.
The clinic was responsible for issuing these welfare vouchers for pregnant workers. With the voucher, a pregnant woman could go to logistics to exchange it for the corresponding ration coupons, which would then be added to her grain and oil booklet for purchasing goods.
“If you’re not in a hurry,” Dr. Yang added, “you can wait until after delivery. Then you’ll also get a quota for either a tin of milk powder or a tin of malted milk drink.”
Wang Ying thought for a moment. “I’ll take the eggs and brown sugar after the New Year. As for the milk powder, I’ll wait until after the baby’s born.”
She sighed. “Our factory’s benefits are really good.”
No wonder everyone wanted to become urban workers these days. A large state-owned factory like the sugar factory offered excellent treatment to its employees.
Dr. Yang nodded. “Exactly. Once you give birth, from pregnancy through postpartum, they’ll also allocate you a few extra jin of grain coupons every month.”
That was a policy handed down from above—benefits specifically for pregnant and postpartum workers.
After discussing maternity benefits, it was time for each department to distribute New Year’s gifts.
The factory had prepared for every employee: one packet of hard candies, two jin of pork, one packet of peach pastries, and two jin of eggs.
Four holiday gifts—and everyone was grinning from ear to ear.
Zhang Na happily wrapped her pork in newspaper. “My mom gets two jin, my dad gets five jin—we’ll have nine jin of pork at home! That’s enough to last through the New Year. I just hope we get front-leg meat. I love dumplings made with minced front-leg pork—lotus root filling is the best. Corn filling’s good too…”
Wang Ying truly admired Zhang Na’s openness. How could she chatter so freely about how much meat her family had received? This wasn’t a later era where showing off wealth was natural. Back then, living well could easily invite envy.
Wang Ying was about to tug at Zhang Na to stop her when Xiao Zhou, the clinic’s purchasing officer, chuckled. “That’s true. In my house, I like corn filling best too—not so salty.”
Wang Ying glanced at the short but handsome Xiao Zhou in surprise.
Since arriving, apart from having a particularly bad relationship with Jiang Lin and a particularly good one with Zhang Na, she’d been fairly neutral with everyone else. But she did have an impression of Xiao Zhou.
His favorite phrase was: “My mom said…”
Although Zhang Na also liked to mention her mother, both of them being rare mama’s boys or girls, Wang Ying had met Zhang Na’s mother before. The woman had later come to thank Wang Ying for advising Zhang Na about the rumors, bringing two jin of peach pastries. She had seemed efficient and generous.
As for Xiao Zhou’s mother, Wang Ying had never met her—but she could infer quite a bit from his constant references.
“Yang-jie, can you introduce me to someone? My requirements aren’t high—she just has to treat my mom well and be filial.”
“Yang-jie, don’t register me yet. I need to ask my mom first.”
“My mom said a wife doesn’t have to be pretty; the most important thing is that she brings prosperity to the family.”
“My mom…”
…
After hearing enough, Wang Ying had a clear picture of Xiao Zhou’s family background.
His family’s conditions were decent—after all, being the clinic’s purchasing officer was a lucrative position, and he had some connections with the hospital. His father was a factory employee, and his mother was a cashier at the Maternal and Child Health Hospital.
He also had an older sister, though she had long since been sent to the countryside.
After Xiao Zhou spoke, Zhang Na happily continued, “I like corn filling too! And fennel! Shrimp would be great, but it’s hard to buy here…”
“Exactly…” Xiao Zhou agreed.
The two of them began chatting animatedly, and Wang Ying decided not to say anything more.
Since the topic had shifted away from how much meat Zhang Na’s family had received, there was no need to deliberately redirect it.
However…
Wang Ying cast Xiao Zhou a meaningful glance.
If anyone said this was a coincidence, she certainly wouldn’t believe it.
Sure enough, when work ended and everyone happily carried their New Year’s goods outside, Xiao Zhou put down his own things and eagerly offered, “Comrade Xiao Zhang, can you carry all that? Let me help you.”
The gesture was obvious. Everyone in the clinic exchanged knowing looks. Yang Qing’s gaze darkened slightly.
Zhang Na said, “No need! Help Ying-jie instead! She’s pregnant! I’m fine—I can carry it!”
With that, she hoisted everything up and trudged off.
Everyone: …
Wang Ying smiled and handed her things to Xiao Zhou. “Then I’ll trouble you, Xiao Zhou.”
No one knew what he was thinking inside, but his face only darkened briefly before he took the items. “Not trouble at all! Ying-jie, Brother Shuang didn’t come to pick you up today?”
Wang Ying replied, “His unit’s distributing goods today too. We agreed he’d come later. Xiao Zhou, why aren’t you moving? Is it too heavy? If it is, just put it down—I can wait.”
Xiao Zhou: “…It’s fine! I can carry it!”
A real man couldn’t admit he couldn’t lift it!
Wang Ying left with an amused smile.
After she left, everyone in the office covered their mouths and giggled.
Jiang Lin had just finished seeing a patient in the consultation room. When she came in and saw everyone laughing, she felt uncomfortable.
Ever since her clash with Wang Ying, Dr. Yang no longer treated her the same as before. When she made cutting remarks, people now directly talked back.
It infuriated Jiang Lin. She had gone home and complained to her uncle, only to be scolded instead. Her uncle said she wasn’t uniting with the masses and shouldn’t expect much career advancement if she continued like this.
Jiang Lin felt deeply wronged. What had she done? She was a proper medical school graduate with solid diagnostic skills—why should she be criticized?
In the past, seeing everyone laughing would have prompted her to make a few sharp comments. But now she had learned her lesson. She knew no one would indulge her, so she stiffly entered, roughly wrapped up her holiday gifts, and left.
Yang Qing quickly gathered her things and hurried after her. Jiang Lin was staying at a relative’s home, while Yang Qing lived in the staff dormitory—they were headed in the same direction.
“Doctor Jiang… Doctor Jiang, wait for me.”
Yang Qing finally caught up, slightly out of breath. “Let’s go together.”
Jiang Lin looked at her suspiciously. “What do you want?”
Normally, they were only on nodding terms. If Yang Qing was suddenly so eager, she must have something to say.
Yang Qing stammered, “I—I…”
Jiang Lin hated listening to people stutter. “If you don’t want to say it, then don’t! Stop wasting my time!”
Yang Qing lowered her head, looking pitiful. But Jiang Lin wasn’t a man—she had no interest in coaxing her. If Yang Qing wouldn’t speak, then fine. It wasn’t a big deal.
By the time Yang Qing looked up again, Jiang Lin was almost at the corner.
She hurried after her. “Doctor Jiang, it’s nothing serious. I just think you’ve been working too hard lately…”
“I work hard—that’s my business. What’s it got to do with you?” Jiang Lin snapped.
Yang Qing: …
Is this woman crazy?
How can she be immune to both soft and hard approaches?
Afraid Jiang Lin might cut her off again, Yang Qing spoke quickly. “I just think you’ve been working too hard. You’re only an intern doctor, yet you’ve been seeing so many patients lately. And Doctor Wang Ying is just pregnant and already acting so delicate…”
“What’s wrong with being an intern doctor? You, a nurse, dare look down on me?” Jiang Lin shot back.
“That’s not the point,” Yang Qing hurriedly said. “I mean, Wang Ying just arrived and got pregnant right away. Doesn’t that mean her workload is being shifted onto you?”
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