Chapter 60

Chapter 60

"Sis Xia, is this amount of tea enough?" Qin Yao smiled slightly, deciding to temporarily put the earlier matter aside. Despite Huang Director’s kind appearance and many words today, Qin Yao remained skeptical.

Leaders who can win people over usually have their own set of skills. Qin Yao was no longer a naive recent graduate and didn’t want to be used as a pawn right away.

She needed to observe the specifics of her new position and avoid hasty actions.

Qin Yao pretended to accidentally bump into Huang Director to check her favorability.

"Her favorability towards you is 40 (She finds you useful)."

A neutral favorability, useful? How exactly? Qin Yao thought, keeping a low profile and lowering her gaze at her new workplace.

Huang Director gave her a task: review past promotional materials and write a few poems for the Lantern Festival—this would be her work for the whole day.

Despite Xiao Pan’s disruptive presence, the daily work in the Public Relations Office was still quite easy.

Qin Yao sat at her desk, reviewing the materials. After a while, she picked up her pen to write poems, scribbled a few lines, crossed them out, tried again, and crossed those out too, then rested her chin on her hand, deep in thought, looking perplexed.

The other three noticed Qin Yao’s actions and found it amusing, particularly Xiao Pan, who felt secretly pleased.

He inwardly mocked her: You think creative work in an office is easy? Let’s see you struggle with writing.

Huang Director sipped tea from her enamel cup, observing Qin Yao’s work with a nod of approval.

Unnoticed by the others, Qin Yao, head lowered, wrote a few lines smoothly but couldn’t help stifling two yawns.

Xiao Qin realized that acting was also a skilled profession, requiring technical expertise.

When Huang Director assigned the task to her, Qin Yao had already thought of the poems for the Lantern Festival. But of course, she couldn’t write them down immediately and hand them in—that would be unnecessary.

If the leader asked her to think for a day and polish the poems, and she finished them right away, no matter how good they were, the leader would find more faults and ask her to make repeated revisions.

As a leader, one couldn’t let their subordinates be idle. Even if you finished the task ahead of time, the leader would give you new tasks.

It was best to complete the work at the right time.

After finishing a poem, Qin Yao put down her pen and picked up the documents again. Her movements were unhurried, yet her thoughts galloped freely. She found herself thinking of Gu Cheng.

Habits can be truly terrifying. During the three months she spent evaluating Gu Cheng, Qin Yao had done her best to immerse herself in her work and kept herself from thinking too much about Gu Cheng. However, after spending a month with him back in his hometown, they became a couple, spending day and night together. Gu Cheng had become as integral to her life as eating and drinking.

It hadn't been long since they parted, yet she couldn’t help but miss him.

Could this be considered "love after marriage"?

"Xiao Qin, don’t strain your brain too much. Take a break and rest after working for so long," said Huang Director.

Huang Director asked Qin Yao and the others to sit on the sofa. Before long, a middle-aged woman joined them, and the group engaged in casual chitchat. Qin Yao no longer thought about Gu Cheng. Instead, she was forced to listen to a lot of gossip.

This middle-aged woman was from the neighborhood committee and was trying to set up Deputy Director Liu with someone. As she talked about the prospective match, she also brought up various miscellaneous stories about the village streets. For instance, there were rumors of an inappropriate relationship between a father-in-law and daughter-in-law. Then there was the story of a stepmother who had been exceptionally kind to her stepson. However, now that the stepson was seeking a wife, the stepmother’s behavior seemed odd, leaving people amazed. Another story discussed the once-popular practice of "sibling swap marriages" between families.

"She must have been pregnant before the swap happened."

"Some people claimed to have seen them together at home."

"Is he really going to acknowledge the child, even though it’s not his?"

...

Qin Yao sipped her tea and listened to their conversation. As a city-born member of the post-2000s generation, this was her first experience of a "village information exchange station." Her mind was filled with astonishment.

Most people back then were quite simple, but many of their actions followed primal, beastly desires, making them hard to understand. Of course, most of the stories were based on hearsay, and only the people involved knew the truth.

On her first day at the new post, Qin Yao had a fruitful day. She drank a lot of tea, consumed a bellyful of gossip, and wrote a few Lantern Festival poems, as if she had spent the day in a teahouse.

Indeed, a great place for gossip.

Qin Yao left work feeling satisfied, humming a tune. But before she could leave the hospital, she encountered an old acquaintance—Zhou Fangyu—along the way.

Zhou Fangyu stood under the blue sky and white clouds, wearing a white coat, looking at Qin Yao with a sorrowful, concerned expression.

His hoarse voice was filled with care. "Yaoyao, have you been doing alright lately? When you went back with him, did you suffer any grievances?"

Zhou Fangyu's gaze, filled with deep affection, fell upon the twenty-year-old girl in front of him, even though she was already married. He preferred to think of her as a girl rather than a woman.

Qin Yao had married Gu Cheng, but a family like the Gu family would never look favorably upon Qin Yao, whose father worked as a chef. Qin Yao must have endured significant hardship in the Gu family.

"What grievances could I possibly suffer? My mother-in-law treats me very well," Qin Yao said, not bothering to engage with him further.

Zhou Fangyu felt a pang of heartache, believing that with a few more words, he could break down her defenses and win her love back. He would show Yaoyao that he was the man worthy of her trust for life.

"Yaoyao, I still have the handkerchief you gave me, and I will always remember the happiness we shared."

Qin Yao coldly replied, "If you dare to harass me again, I'll report you for harassment."

Zhou Fangyu was pierced by her icy stare.

Other people in the hospital who witnessed this scene could not suppress the mockery in their eyes. Some had previously felt sorry for Zhou Fangyu, but now, seeing him harass a married woman, they immediately thought less of him.

"Zhou Fangyu is really not a good guy. Thank goodness he didn't harass me. Poor Dr. Xue was really harmed by him."

"This man is really shameless, despite having a fiancée recognized by his family. He pursued Dr. Xue, but when his fiancée came to cause a scene, he let Dr. Xue take the blame without taking any responsibility."

"Now, his fiancée has married Director Zhang in a whirlwind and become a stepmother. He didn't dare to say a word, and now he's come to bother Xiao Qin."

...

During the month Qin Yao was away, Zhou Fangyu and Zeng Manli's relationship underwent a huge turning point. Zeng Manli, as the "fiancée," had interfered with Zhou Fangyu and Dr. Xue's relationship, but soon after, she "flash-married" Director Zhang at the hospital and became a stepmother.

Meanwhile, Dr. Xue was now dating Dr. He Guangzhi.

Zhou Fangyu, who had dragged things out, ended up with nothing.

When Qin Yao learned of this, she realized that Dr. Xue had taken on the role of "Qin Yao" from the story.

Logically, Dr. Xue did nothing wrong in dating Zhou Fangyu. Zhou Fangyu had verbally called off his engagement with Zeng Manli and was free to date other women.

The problem was that Zeng Manli was an irrational and obstinate woman, and Zhou Fangyu was an indecisive and dragging-his-feet kind of man.

Zeng Manli caused a scene at the hospital, and within two days, Zhou Fangyu was back with her, making his previous claim that the "engagement was void" a lie. Dr. Xue was labeled as the other woman, and Zeng Manli publicly shamed her at the hospital.

Zhou Fangyu was a coward, and after weighing the pros and cons, he decided to favor Zeng Manli.

Even though Dr. Xue’s circumstances were excellent, Zeng Manli was his former fiancée, and the two families knew each other inside out; she was his childhood sweetheart.

There was a ninety percent chance that Zeng Manli would marry him, and life would be easier after marriage. Since Zeng Manli was willing to 'return to a past relationship,' Zhou Fangyu naturally chose to do the same.

When Miao Cuiye cursed Zhou Fangyu for being a scoundrel, it was because she had seen through his plan to reconcile with Zeng Manli. She deliberately let Zeng Manli come to the hospital to confront Dr. Xue, while Zhou Fangyu feigned resistance before reluctantly getting back together with his ex-fiancée.

Much to everyone's shock, Zeng Manli ended up marrying Director Zhang in a flash.

Qin Yao was amazed by the turn of events and found neither of them to be decent people.

In the evening, Qin Yao drove back to the family compound. The courtyard was bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, with young seedlings pushing through the soil, exuding vibrant life in the fading light. Qin Yao went inside, turned on the lights, and darkness soon fell.

Gu Cheng hadn't returned yet. She ate alone and did a simple cleaning of the house.

At that moment, Qin Yao felt the house was too vast and empty. This two-story house, with only her in the small courtyard, was eerily silent, making her feel afraid.

The sounds of the evening breeze carried over, bringing the voice of Neighbor Sister Zaohua scolding her naughty child. Their house was noisy, with sharp retorts from the child, making it very lively.

Coldness and loneliness pierced Qin Yao's heart like two icy knives.

She couldn’t help but wonder how Chen Baozhen had endured living alone before.

In the past, when she lived with Zhang Yufei in the dorm, they lacked privacy, but at least she had company. Now, being alone at home, an inexplicable sense of solitude always lingered, making her feel as if she was in a deep black hole, suffocating her.

It was strange because after graduating, she lived and worked alone, and everything was fine. Why was she feeling so intensely lonely now?

She had to admit, it was hard to bear!

When Gu Cheng told her that married life was just the beginning and that she might resent or hate him, Qin Yao began to experience it firsthand.

It was impossible to say there was no "resentment" or "grievance."

Like her parents, Qin Chuanrong and Shen Guixiang, her elder brother and sister-in-law, her second brother and sister-in-law, they all worked in the factory. Like rural men, they worked during the day and returned home at night, gathering together for dinner. Couples slept side by side at night.

However, due to the nature of Gu Cheng’s work, he wouldn’t often come back. If he returned every few days, that would be considered good. After going to sea, would he return in a week? A month? Several months?

During their courtship, when Gu Cheng met her every once in a while, Qin Yao didn’t mind much.

Now, as a married couple, Gu Cheng became her husband... Thinking about the future, not knowing how many years she would have to endure this kind of life, she realized she had truly stepped onto a path with an uncertain future.

This is what real life is like.