Section 35

"If this gets any uglier, the leaders will naturally want to play down the whole thing and let it go."

So that was what had happened.

Gu Yinxing had thought the leaders were trying to spare Song Mei embarrassment. Now that she knew the reason, the little knot in her heart was gone.

"Yinxing, have you finished eating?" the head nurse called as she came over.

Gu Yinxing hurriedly stuffed down the rest of her meal. "All done. Did you need me for something, Head Nurse?"

"Just a little something. Come with me," the head nurse said.

Gu Yinxing exchanged a furtive glance with Chen Deng Deng, then followed the head nurse back toward the office.

The head nurse took an envelope from a drawer and handed it to Gu Yinxing. "The leaders said what Song Mei did this time was out of line. She's been given a demerit and docked two months' pay. The money's going to you as compensation. You know what that means, right?"

Gu Yinxing looked at the bulging envelope, her eyes lighting up.

She immediately held up three fingers. "Don't worry, Head Nurse. My lips are sealed. I won't say a word to anyone. Nothing happened today!"

Only then did the head nurse smile. She handed over the envelope, and when Gu Yinxing tried to give her a few bills, she shot her a look. "Keep it. I don't need the money. And buy fewer clothes, you hear? Save it!"

"Hehe, I know."

Gu Yinxing grinned.

The head nurse could tell she hadn't listened, but she didn't press the matter. She told her to put the money away safely and left.

With the money in her pocket, Gu Yinxing was beside herself with joy.

Nurses earned thirty-seven yuan a month, so two months came to seventy-four. That was enough to buy herself a top and still have a few dozen yuan left for household expenses.

As she worked out the sums, she heard Song Mei's tearful voice up ahead. She looked up and saw Song Mei standing with her back to her, facing Yan Ren.

Yan Ren's brows were tightly drawn, his expression cold. He seemed tired of the whole situation.

"Comrade Yan, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bump into you and make you spill your food," Song Mei said, dabbing at her tears with a handkerchief.

Yan Ren looked at the lunch box on the ground. "It's nothing. I'll clean it up. You can—"

"No, let me. I don't know what's wrong with me today. I've been so clumsy. First I accidentally offended Gu Yinxing and got a scolding from the leaders, and now I've bumped into you."

As she spoke, Song Mei crouched down and picked up the lunch-box lid.

Annoyance stirred in Yan Ren. He pressed his lips together and was about to speak when he spotted Gu Yinxing behind Song Mei. She made a face at him.

Yan Ren couldn't help laughing.

At the sound, Song Mei blushed. Yan Ren was an attractive man, and even his laugh had a rich warmth to it. Hearing it made her heart flutter.

She picked up the lunch box and stood. "Comrade Yan, do you know how awful my coworker Gu Yinxing is? She deliberately bumped into me, then claimed I'd bumped into her. And our head nurse took her side without even asking what happened. I just..."

"Comrade Song, I happen to know Comrade Gu Yinxing. She may be a little spoiled and temperamental, but she's certainly not the spiteful, unreasonable person you're describing."

Yan Ren looked at Gu Yinxing as he spoke to Song Mei.

Song Mei was about to argue when she noticed where he was looking. She followed his gaze and saw Gu Yinxing standing there with her hands on her hips, watching her with a half-smile.

Song Mei looked as though she'd seen a ghost. Her hands shook, and she hastily thrust the lunch box at Yan Ren before fleeing.

Gu Yinxing huffed. "She's lucky she ran."

She turned to Yan Ren and raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's a surprise. You actually stood up for me."

Yan Ren frowned. "Was I wrong?"

"...You could've just said I was a good person. Why did you have to call me spoiled and temperamental?" At a loss for words, Gu Yinxing went on the offensive.

"Aren't you being temperamental right now?" Yan Ren said evenly.

Gu Yinxing opened her mouth but couldn't think of a comeback. She glared at him instead and turned to leave.

"Wait, Comrade Gu." Yan Ren smiled at her retreating back.

Gu Yinxing looked over her shoulder. "What?"

"I'd like to take you to Maxim's Restaurant. Are you free?" Yan Ren asked. "Everyone at that Western restaurant speaks English, and mine isn't very good. I'd have to trouble you."

Gu Yinxing could have refused. After all, when an unmarried man and woman went to a restaurant together, it usually meant they were interested in courting. But Yan Ren had asked so respectfully and even slipped in a compliment about her English. Her little streak of vanity was thoroughly satisfied.

"How do you know my English is good?" she asked.

"I saw you talking to that foreigner this morning."

The smug little look on Gu Yinxing's face reminded Yan Ren of an endearingly goofy puppy. It made him want to tease her. "I had no idea Comrade Gu was so capable. I'd never dare talk to a foreigner, much less in English."

"Oh, it's nothing, really."

Gu Yinxing lifted her chin. "You just have to read more and practice..."

His praise had gone straight to her head. By the time she came to her senses, she had agreed to go to the Western restaurant, and they had even set a time: next weekend.

The Fortieth Day of Being Overheard

Gu Yinxing wheeled her bicycle home, muttering the whole way. What had gotten into her?

How had a few compliments been enough to make her agree?

The more she thought about it, the more she felt Yan Ren was rather calculating. She'd taken him for a stiff, proper man, but up close, he was full of surprises.

"Yinxing, what are you muttering about?"

He Chunlian was making dumplings at home. Gu Yinxing had been back for a while, yet she was still outside holding her bicycle and talking to herself like a madwoman.

Gu Yinxing finally snapped out of it. "Nothing, Mom. You're making dumplings?"

"What else would these be, steamed buns?"

The weather was lovely that day, with a warm spring breeze. He Chunlian had lifted the curtain and opened the windows to air out the house. The early-spring wind stirred something restless in people. Today's dumplings were filled with pork and chives. The fresh, crisp chives looked as if they'd just been pulled from the ground and brought to Beijing.

He Chunlian was doing two things at once, making dumplings while studying her script.

Gu Yinxing grinned, parked her bicycle by the door, and hurried inside. "Mom, that foreigner praised me today. Our leaders said I was capable, too."

"Well, isn't Yinxing impressive?"

Grandpa Sun came out of his room and joined in with a smile.

Gu Yinxing was hardly one to be modest. "You bet. Our head nurse even said I have the best English of all the nurses. She said she'd put me forward again if there was another chance!"

He Chunlian was pleased. She pointed a finger at Gu Yinxing. "Then keep practicing your English. Your brother made you study it all those years ago, and look—it came in handy, didn't it?"

"I say both Jin Shui and Yinxing have done well for themselves. It's just a shame about Jin Shui's schooling. He was so clever as a child. If he'd kept studying, he might even have gotten into university."

Grandpa Sun still sounded regretful.

Gu Jinshui's quick mind had been famous since childhood. He could memorize Tang and Song poetry after hearing it twice. What a sharp boy he had been.

But who would have guessed he would stop studying after middle school?

Back when the college entrance exam wasn't held, no one had thought much of it. Now that it had resumed and university graduates were becoming officials, people couldn't help feeling sorry for Gu Jinshui.

"Everyone has their own path," He Chunlian said, taking it in stride. "He might not have been able to sit still in school anyway. Grandpa Sun, when the dumplings are ready, shall I bring a bowl over for you and Auntie Sun?"

"Oh, I couldn't possibly,"

Grandpa Sun wanted some, but he looked embarrassed.

He Chunlian smiled. "Why not? You and Auntie Sun helped watch both children plenty when they were little. We're neighbors. What's a bowl of dumplings between us?"

Grandpa Sun nodded sheepishly. He went inside and brought back a bowl of pickled cabbage. "We made this ourselves. It's good stewed with vermicelli or pork. Give it a try."

Gu Yinxing hurried over to take it. She was about to thank him when she saw Song Mei approaching with a long face. Song Mei greeted no one and went straight into the East Wing Room.

"What's happened to her? Who upset her?"

Grandpa Sun looked puzzled.

Gu Yinxing pressed her lips together, secretly amused. "Who knows? Maybe she stepped in dog poop on the way home."

Song Mei heard every word from inside. Her face flushed with anger. She took off her scarf and began banging things around the room.

Huang Xirong came out of the inner room. One look at her daughter told her something had happened at the hospital. "Why are you throwing that cup around? It's enamel, but that doesn't mean you have to put it to the test."

"Mom, it's just a cup! I can't even use it without you nagging?"

Song Mei sat down on a stool, scowling.

She was seething over how badly her plan had gone, over the demerit and fine, and over Yan Ren taking Gu Yinxing's side.

She couldn't understand it. Did every man in the world like affected women like Gu Yinxing? Why did no one like someone straightforward like her?

"What have I nagged you about? You're angry, but don't take it out on me. It didn't work, did it?"

Huang Xirong knew her daughter inside out.

Song Mei's face darkened further. She set down the enamel cup and twisted her fingers together. "I don't know how, but the head nurse found out. They docked... docked..."

"Docked what?"

Huang Xirong's eyes widened as if she'd seen a ghost.

Song Mei lowered her head and mumbled, "Two months' pay."

"What?!"

Huang Xirong's voice rang out from the East Wing Room.

Gu Yinxing and He Chunlian were talking about the hospital. At the sound, mother and daughter exchanged a glance. Gu Yinxing whispered, "Auntie Huang must have found out about the fine."

Huang Xirong felt she had every right to be furious with her daughter. Hands on her hips, she looked like a hen with its wings flared. She jabbed a finger at Song Mei. "You—you! What am I supposed to say to you? You botched something this simple! No, I'm going to talk to your leaders. It was just a joke. Did they really have to dock your pay?"

Putting a laxative in Gu Yinxing's food had been Huang Xirong's idea.

She'd figured that if it worked, the opportunity would go to Song Mei. If it didn't, they could dismiss it as a little joke between young women and muddle through.

But the leaders had taken it seriously—and even docked her pay!

"Mom, you can't go!" Song Mei grabbed Huang Xirong. "If you do, the leaders will only get angrier. Besides, they gave my pay to Gu Yinxing as compensation."

"What? They gave it to Gu Yinxing?"

Huang Xirong looked ready to faint.

She glared at her daughter, furious, and jabbed a finger at her. "How can you be so useless? Your mother's so capable, and you haven't learned a thing!"

"I'm going to get that money back from the Gu Family."

Gu Yinxing was straining to listen to what was happening in the Song Family's room when she saw Huang Xirong and Song Mei come out.

Mother and daughter headed straight for Old Gu's home.

Huang Xirong stormed in, her face full of anger. "Gu Yinxing, our families are neighbors. Did you really have to make such a fuss over this?"

Her voice was loud enough to draw the aunties and uncles of the Compound Courtyard over.

Grandpa Sun tried to smooth things over. "What's going on? We're all neighbors. Let's talk this through."

"Grandpa Sun, this has nothing to do with you. Step aside."

Huang Xirong's manner was nothing like before. She shoved Grandpa Sun aside with one hand, acting downright overbearing.

Grandpa Sun stumbled and nearly tripped over the threshold. Luckily, someone behind him caught him before he fell.

"My, Auntie Huang, you've got quite a temper. Was Grandpa Sun wrong to try to make peace?"

Widow An's voice dripped with sarcasm.

She had plenty of old grudges against the Song Family. There was no way she would pass up a chance to kick them while they were down.

"She's right, Huang. That was uncalled for."

Auntie Sun came out of her room, plainly displeased. "What did Old Sun do to offend you? You shoved him so hard. What if he'd fallen?"

Huang Xirong hadn't expected one show of aggression to bring so much criticism down on her.

Feeling embarrassed, she said, "I was annoyed that he was butting in. Today, this is between our family and"