"No matter what kind of car they rode in, they were still a department-level cadre in their thirties. Wasn't Uncle-in-law's greatest dream in life just to become a department-level cadre?"
Ji Xiangmin's single remark nearly left Ren Fangfang too choked up to breathe.
What women loved showing off most was their husbands and sons.
Ren Fangfang's husband had been quite impressive when he was young. He was eloquent and handsome, and had risen to section-level rank at a young age. Back then, he had been far more promising than her schoolteacher brother-in-law.
Especially not long after they got married, Ren Fangfang's brother-in-law had become one of the "stinking old ninth," while her own husband had taken full advantage of his silver tongue. That made Ren Fangfang feel that her Older Sister was inferior to her in every way, and that her brother-in-law Ji Guowei had climbed the high branch of the Ren family.
But the wheel of fortune turned, and next year it came to my house. Just as Ren Fangfang reached middle age, the wheel of history turned back around.
Over the past dozen or so years, her brother-in-law Ji Guowei had climbed steadily upward. His rank had long surpassed Ren Fangfang's husband's, and he had even become a leader in a certain field of research at the school, someone held in high regard even before the principal.
Meanwhile, Ren Fangfang's husband had spent those years running in circles, never able to cross the threshold into department-level rank.
Because department-level rank was not as simple as section-level rank. It was not something one could attain merely by being glib-tongued and skilled at bootlicking; connections and ability were both indispensable.
Yet in recent years, Ren Fangfang's husband had focused only on honing his verbal skills. His professional abilities had failed