Free Web NovelChapter 60: Chapter 60: Seeing the Rabbit but Not Releasing the Hawk
"Don’t rush, take your time thinking about it. Even if you want to start a small business, you should wait until we get the house in Lihua Village. We can make plans after it’s repaired and ready to live in," Zhang Dazhuang reassured her. "And you still have to deal with your job at the supply and marketing cooperative."
"Sigh, what a shame to lose such a good job at the cooperative." Wen Xiu felt a pang of regret. Even though it was a temporary position, it was still a temp job *at the supply and marketing cooperative*. The monthly salary was nothing to sneeze at, and the benefits were great. Working there, selling things, wasn’t tiring, and you were out of the wind and rain. If she started her own business, she’d also be selling things, but not only would she be exposed to the wind, sun, and rain, her income would be unstable.
"Sigh—" Wen Xiu let out another sigh, a look of immense regret on her face. Suddenly, she remembered how resourceful her eldest son was, and her eyes lit up. "What if your older brother has a way to let you keep your job at the cooperative?"
"...Mom, it might be a blessing in disguise." Zhang Minzhen was silent for a long while before she shook her head and replied in a low voice.
"Are you saying that even if your older brother found a way to stop them from firing you, you wouldn’t want to go back?" Wen Xiu didn’t quite understand what her daughter meant, but she understood the headshake. She felt an urge to beat her chest and stomp her feet.
"Forget it. So what if she could stay on at the cooperative? The moment that daughter of the Gu Family decides to cause trouble, how could Minzhen possibly be her match?" Zhang Dazhuang pulled back Wen Xiu, who was about to speak again, and shook his head.
’Right, that’s a big problem too. My daughter is definitely no match for that Gu Jinhua. She used to bully her even when they were family. In the future, wouldn’t she have a field day bullying my daughter?’
Wen Xiu sighed and shut her mouth. ’I’ll have to teach the girls in our family to be more assertive from now on. It’s not a good thing for a girl to be too weak.’
"...She can forget about going back to the cooperative. I didn’t even need my father-in-law to get involved to make her lose her job. All I had to do was have a private word with Deputy Director He and it was a done deal. You have no idea how good the salary and benefits are there, do you?"
In the Gu Family’s kitchen, Gu Jinhua was bragging smugly to Chen Suxiang, "No matter what she does in the future, do you think she’ll ever find a better workplace than our supply and marketing cooperative? That alone is enough to make the Zhang family’s hearts ache with regret."
"Hmph, serves her right. It would be best if losing such a good job made their whole family sick with regret. That’ll teach her to act up!" Chen Suxiang was clearly satisfied. After a few laughs, she looked at her daughter hopefully. "Since it only took a word from you, why not have your second brother’s wife take over that position? Your second brother has lost his job, and it’s not right for her to just be idle at home. One of them has to be out there earning money, right? Or am I supposed to support them forever?"
"Oh, Mom, it’s not that easy! Don’t you know how many people have their eyes on a position there? Getting out is easy, but do you really think getting in is just a matter of saying a few words? No way, no way."
Gu Jinhua shook her head frantically. She knew her mom was the type who wanted something for nothing—so cheap she wouldn’t release the hawk even if she saw the rabbit. Getting her to fork over cold, hard cash to pull some strings? Impossible. The "connection fee" would probably end up coming out of Gu Jinhua’s pocket again. And even though the money was for her father-in-law, she knew it didn’t all end up in his hands, so the expense was unavoidable.
Even though her father-in-law was the director of the cooperative, he couldn’t really make every single decision by himself. Especially when it came to certain benefits—if he didn’t share them around, he wouldn’t be able to hold on to his position for long.
"Why not? Isn’t your second sister-in-law just filling Zhang Minzhen’s spot? I still remember that we paid your father-in-law a hefty ’benefit fee’ when Zhang Minzhen first got into the cooperative. Now that she’s out, you’re telling me our own family can’t send someone to take her place?" Seeing her daughter shake her head, Chen Suxiang grew indignant, and her tone hardened.
"Mom, keep your voice down! How is that the same thing? That was ancient history, how can you keep bringing it up?"
Gu Jinhua grew anxious when her mother brought up the "benefit fee" for Zhang Minzhen again. How many times had her mom harped on about that over the years? She was always complaining that her father-in-law showed no consideration for his in-laws—it was just helping one person get a job under him, so why did he have to take a bribe just like he would from anyone else?
She was fuming and frantic. She knew her mom was still sore about it, feeling like the money had come out of her older brother’s pocket back then. Gu Jinhua regretted giving in to her mom’s nagging and pulling the strings to get Zhang Minzhen into the cooperative in the first place. If her mom kept endlessly harping on about it, it would cause a huge disaster sooner or later. Her mom was just brainless. How many times had she told her not to keep bringing it up, but she just wouldn’t listen. If this ever got out, it wouldn’t just be her father-in-law who’d be in trouble; she herself would be implicated and lose her job.
And taking a huge step back, even if she managed to avoid being implicated and kept her job, would people at the cooperative still give her face everywhere she went, fawning all over her like they did now? When she got home from work, there would be hell to pay. It could even lead to divorce... If things really got to that point, she seriously doubted she could even rely on her own family—
"What does it matter how many years it’s been? Anyway, I don’t care. Don’t bother with that Deputy Director He. Just go straight back and tell your father-in-law that Zhang Minzhen is out, and the Gu Family is swapping in someone else to take her place. If you won’t go, I’ll go myself. I refuse to believe your father-in-law won’t budge," Chen Suxiang said belligerently.
"Mom, that’s absolutely impossible."
Gu Jinhua broke out in a cold sweat at her mother’s words, her tone becoming much heavier. "Zhang Minzhen gets a divorce and leaves the cooperative one day, and my second sister-in-law goes in the next... Do you have any idea what kind of ugly things people will say when they see that?"
As Gu Jinhua said this, she completely gave up on the idea of getting her second sister-in-law a job at the cooperative. Having her sister-in-law there would mean she could occasionally get some small benefits, like having someone to cover her shifts for free. But she was truly afraid of her mother’s constant meddling. So, it was better to forget it and find a way to make her mom drop the idea.
With this in mind, Gu Jinhua spoke to Chen Suxiang with a serious expression. "Mom, even though my father-in-law is the director of the supply and marketing cooperative, it’s not our family’s business. It’s a public entity, and the internal politics are complicated. There are people above him who are at odds with him, just waiting to catch him making a mistake so they can pull him down and put their own person in his place. Think about it. If you insist on forcing him to get my second sister-in-law in, wouldn’t that just be handing a perfect weapon to anyone with an agenda?"
Chen Suxiang was unconvinced. "It’s just getting one person a job. A weapon? Is it really that serious?"
