Witty Wife, Better Life

Chapter 40: Chapter 38: You Won’t Lose Out Chapter 40: Chapter 38: You Won’t Lose Out Shen Yunfeng’s face instantly turned cold when her cousin mentioned money, and she said vaguely, “Don’t worry, you certainly won’t be at a loss.”

When she asked her mother’s family to find someone from the countryside to replace her at work, she was thinking of taking advantage. She was on leave at home to recuperate, but why bother telling the leader and finding a replacement? Firstly, she was afraid someone would take her job, and secondly, she couldn’t bear to lose that bit of salary.

She originally thought that it would be Yunxiu from her uncle’s side replacing her, and she would have been willing to give Yunxiu a token amount out of respect for her uncle, five yuan and everyone would be happy. But now it was her third uncle’s daughter, Yunfang who had come…
Shen Yunfeng took a good look at the cousin clinging to the corner of her clothes, fifteen years old, pale-faced, with no outstanding features anywhere. She moved her gaze away with disgust.

Just providing her food and drink was already generous, asking for money on top of that was too much greed.

Shen Yunfang was old enough to see what the intentions of her second aunt and her daughter were. They saw her as a lonely girl, thinking they could take advantage of her, huh.

“Sister Feng, about the money, can you give it to me first?” Shen Yunfang said hesitantly, putting forth her request. Seeing both Shen Yunfeng and her second aunt had unpleasant faces, she hurried to explain, “Aunt said, although I’m the only one left in the family, it’s not good to always depend on relatives for help. It just so happens that you needed someone, Sister Feng, so I came to earn money. With the New Year approaching, there’s nothing at home yet, and I thought I’d take the chance to be in the county, close to the supply and marketing co-op, to buy everything that’s missing. I need to get soy sauce, vinegar, and other things, and also…”
“Alright, alright, I’m not refusing to give you the money, why mention all this?” Shen Yunfeng was annoyed by her rambling.

Shen Yunfang suppressed a smile and said with a semblance of fear, “Sister Feng, don’t get me wrong, I really trust you.”

With five yuan in her pocket, Shen Yunfang happily followed Xue Jialong on the horse cart to the purchasing station.

Humph, silly girl, thinking you can cheat your sister out of money, it’s not that easy. I’m the one without shoes, how can I possibly drag my feet more than you who wants to wear them.

However, from just this short contact, Shen Yunfang had already seen through the true characters of her second aunt and this older cousin. They were not the kind of people to keep close, but they could not be offended outright either. So, she decided to play dumb while being aware, as long as appearances were maintained. As for her own benefits, they shouldn’t even think about taking them.

“Yunfang, it must be quite hard for you, being on your own in the family,” Xue Jialong said, looking somewhat compassionately at his cousin beside him, who was as skinny as bean sprouts, clearly malnourished.

Shen Yunfang looked up and pursed her lips before saying, “It’s alright.”

“If there’s any difficulty in the future, just tell your brother-in-law. I will definitely help if I can,” Xue Jialong promised.

Shen Yunfang looked down and kept silent. This brother-in-law seemed alright for now, but given that he had married her demanding older cousin, he probably didn’t hold much sway at home. Thus, she took his offer with a grain of salt and decided not to take it to heart.

The two, who were practically strangers to each other, naturally didn’t have much to talk about. Fortunately, the purchasing station was not too far from the Xue Family home, and the horse cart reached its destination after traveling for about ten minutes.

A big courtyard surrounded by brick walls. In the middle, there was a row of houses; Shen Yunfang counted, five doors in total. Overall, it looked better than she had imagined, at least better than the houses in her village.

Xue Jialong carried the luggage down from the horse cart and led her into the yard. There was no leader waiting for them, and instead, he directly introduced her to another employee who was working, Jian Hui.

“Sister Jian, this is my wife’s cousin. I hope you can look after her during this time. If she does anything wrong, just tell me straight away, treat her like your own child,” Xue Jialong was articulate in his request.

The woman named Jian Hui glanced at Shen Yunfang and then gave Xue Jialong a forced smile, “Big brother, look at you, talking like that. She’s one of our own children, of course I’ll take good care of her. Let Yunfeng rest assured at home, she doesn’t need to worry about work matters.”

“Hehe, I always say Sister Jian is a good person, very straightforward. Just recently we got a new batch of scarves at our cooperative, and I thought this color would suit Sister Jian perfectly. Are you interested? If so, I can set one aside for you?”

“Haha, then thanks a lot, big brother. I’ll come over after work today,” said Jian Hui, grinning from ear to ear.

“Alright, I’ll wait for you after work then.”

After whispering a few more words to each other, Xue Jialong put Shen Yunfang’s luggage inside the room and handed her over to Jian Hui before he left for work. The new year period was the busiest time for the cooperative, and it was only because he knew that his wife’s cousin was coming that he had taken a half-day off. But now that it was almost noon, he needed to hurry to work.

Shen Yunfeng’s marriage was to a cadre’s family. Her father-in-law was second in command at the county department store, and her husband was a minor head at the local cooperative. That situation was temporary, though; with a father-in-law like that, Jialong’s transfer to the department store was just a matter of time.

In this era, this type of job was highly envied and respected, so Jialong was very popular wherever he went.

“That’s enough, come with me.” After Jialong left, Jian Hui dropped her smile and put on a serious face as she said to Shen Yunfang, “We have a small room available here. You’ll have to make do with it for a while.”

She opened the door to the room on the far left. It seemed to be a temporary dormitory with a small heated brick bed covered only with a straw mat, and no cabinets or boxes for storage—bedding would have to be brought by oneself. Under the bed were an iron washbasin and a chamber pot. Beside the bed stood a wooden table with a hot water bottle underneath.

In the center of the room was an iron stove, probably installed to keep the room warm in the winter.

By the standards of that era, these conditions were considered top-notch. Shen Yunfang was very satisfied; it was even better than her own home.

“The toilet is outside, just walk straight ahead for about twenty meters, and you’ll find the public lavatory. If it’s night, use the chamber pot. Alright, leave your things here and follow me to the back. I’ll tell you what you need to do.”

And so, Shen Yunfang began her first day of work in her life.

The procurement station was divided into a front and back court, separated by five rooms. The front court was mainly under Jian Hui’s jurisdiction, and she was responsible for collecting scrap materials, a process meticulously recorded in a ledger.

The back courtyard was large, with various types of scrap material piled up everywhere. Because it had snowed these past few days, the entire courtyard was covered in a layer of snow, making it hard to see clearly what was beneath. At the very back, there was a metal warehouse for materials that needed to be protected from rain, such as cardboard and books. Next to the warehouse was a pile of pottery—on the surface, they looked like bowls and plates, but none were whole anymore.

However, sometimes there was too much of this kind of scrap, or the workers forgot about it, and the items could end up being neglected in the yard, exposed to the elements. By the time they were discovered, they could be reduced to unidentifiable pulps.

Shen Yunfang’s main job scope would be the back courtyard. She was responsible for transferring the various items Jian Hui collected into the back courtyard and sorting them out, placing each thing where it belonged.

Since Shen Yunfang had arrived late, it was already noon by the time Jian Hui finished explaining her duties.

“Since it’s your first day, you can go back and have lunch. Remember to bring your own meal tomorrow, as we don’t break for lunch here.” Jian Hui was probably in a good mood because of the scarf, so she was relatively nice to Shen Yunfang.

Shen Yunfang nodded her thanks. After all, getting paid meant she had to do her job well. As for lunch, Second Aunt hadn’t mentioned it, so she guessed she was supposed to eat at the Xue family’s home, right?

After bidding Jian Hui goodbye, Shen Yunfang headed towards the Xue family’s house, a route she still remembered.