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Chapter 667: Chapter 657 follows the ones behind.
"Shut up, if you can’t speak properly, don’t talk at all, and don’t drag us into it," Zhang Feifeng chided quietly from the side. This person was really clueless, badmouthing others on their own turf – wasn’t that just asking for trouble? "We’re just here to work. Just do your job honestly, get paid, and leave it at that. Why do you care so much about things that aren’t your business?"
"What’s with the way you speak? I’m talking about myself; what’s it to you? Oh, I get it—seeing someone with money makes you want to suck up to them, doesn’t it? Too bad I’ve already told you off," Zhou Hua retorted, not backing down from the confrontation and ready to argue without fear.
"Zhou Hua, do you feel no shame saying such things?" she thought. How everything had started was clear in everyone’s heart, and now she had the audacity to turn things around and accuse others of sucking up? That was simply nonsense.
"Who’s the one without a conscience here..."
"Alright, both of you, calm down," Gan Xiuying interjected with a headache as she separated the two, whose voices were only getting louder. Didn’t they see that the other military wives were laughing at them? Why couldn’t they have a little self-awareness as military spouses?
"Hmph." Both turned their heads away.
After Zhang Chunwang distributed the wages based on the amount of work they had done, Zhou Hua carefully pocketed the one yuan and eighty cents she had just received and noticed Shen Yunfang standing not too far away. With a sly glint in her eye, she stealthily approached.
"Xiaoshen, that’s quite a generous amount you have there," Zhou Hua said, trying to start a conversation out of nothing.
Shen Yunfang, hearing someone speak suddenly next to her, stepped back instinctively and glanced over. "Sister Zhou, you’ve got your money, right?"
"Got it, got it. I see you’re doing quite well," Zhou Hua moved a step closer again.
Shen Yunfang chuckled twice, not engaging in the conversation.
Seeing that Shen Yunfang wasn’t taking the bait, Zhou Hua decided to take matters into her own hands. "Xiaoshen, it seems like you don’t have many workers. You know, your Sister Zhou doesn’t have much to do at home. If you ever find yourself too busy to handle everything, I can come over and help out for a few days. You don’t have to give me any special treatment; just treat me like any other worker you hire."
Shen Yunfang glanced at her, thinking she had quite some nerve. Did she even know how much her own workers were paid to suggest she should be treated the same?
"Sorry, Sister Zhou, but I only get busy during the spring planting and autumn harvest and need to hire temporary workers then. The rest of the time, I have enough workers as it is."
Zhou Hua didn’t take the hint. "What’s there to be afraid of? If you have too many workers, just let one go. That way, you’ll make room for me. We know each other; it’s that simple."
Shen Yunfang laughed. She spoke as if she owned the place.
"Sister Zhou, it really isn’t as simple as that. I’m afraid we can’t just hire anybody here." Shen Yunfang didn’t want to be too direct and preferred to let her figure it out on her own. "Sister Zhou, I can’t keep you company any longer; I’ve got other matters to attend to." With that, she turned and walked away.
"Hey, hey, why do you only talk halfway? Can I work for you or not? Just give me a straight answer," Zhou Hua called after her, not understanding why Shen Yunfang had just turned and left.
"You might as well give up; you still don’t get what she’s saying, do you? Xiaoshen’s words meant that they don’t want someone like you, get it? It’s embarrassing," whispered Zhang Feifeng, lowering her voice on the last sentence.
Zhang Feifeng had just received her money when she saw Zhou Hua sneakily approaching Xiaoshen. With nothing else to do, she moved closer to eavesdrop on Zhou Hua, and sure enough, she overheard her shameful words. Hmph, who’s the one trying to suck up to others? She was clearly talking about herself.
Seeing that Xiaoshen plainly didn’t give her face, Zhang Feifeng couldn’t help but utter a sarcastic remark.
"What are you doing, why are you so lacking in quality, eavesdropping on others’ conversations." Zhou Hua, faced with Zhang Feifeng’s words, blushed and then turned pale, sneaking around to cozy up to Xiaoshen was one thing, but getting caught red-handed was another.
"How interesting, in broad daylight, where do I even have to report to you, thinking you can manage everything and now you want to control what I do? Besides," Zhang Feifeng immediately returned the words she had just said about herself back to her, unchanged.
Humph, such a vindictive person she was.
At half-past eleven noon, an East Wind truck dropped all the military spouses at the entrance of the military district compound, then sped off again.
Shen Yunfang hadn’t ridden a bicycle, coming back in the passenger seat. After watching the truck leave, she then notified everyone that those who still wanted to work in the afternoon should gather here at one o’clock sharp, no waiting for latecomers.
Everyone expressed one after another that they would come again in the afternoon, and that they would come on time.
Then all the military spouses walked towards the residential area together, laughing and talking. After spending the morning together, everyone felt much closer to Shen Yunfang, and there were people chatting with her all along the way. Upon reaching the building, Shen Yunfang greeted everyone and then went upstairs.
The child and Li Hongjun had already arrived home, with Li Hongjun busying himself in the kitchen wearing an apron.
"I’ll cook, you take a break." Shen Yunfang, seeing her husband seriously chopping vegetables in the kitchen, thought he was really quite good, but as a good wife who felt very sorry for him, an old man still training with the young soldiers, coming home tired as a dog every day, it seemed inhumane to then have him cook for herself and her mother, so as long as she was home, he generally didn’t need to cook.
"I’m not tired, today you all will get a taste of my cooking." Li Hongjun, despite being a man, wasn’t at all averse to cooking and doing laundry for his wife and children— he’d washed his wife’s undergarments more than once, "Oh, by the way, Sister Chen from across the door came looking for you just now, seems to be about the work at the farm, said she’d come by the house again in a bit."
"Oh, is that so, then I’ll go have a look." Shen Yunfang, seeing his insistence, decided not to get involved and planned to go across to see what Sister Chen meant.
But before she could even touch the doorknob, someone knocked on the front door. Sure enough, it was Sister Chen when she opened it.
"Sister Chen, you’ve come, please come in and sit." Shen Yunfang put on a smiling face and ushered the visitor into the house.
"Aiya, you’re such a busy person now, this is my second time coming, I just fear that you’d be resting after lunch and it would be inappropriate to disturb you then." Sister Chen didn’t hesitate and followed her into the house, "Li Regimental Commander is really good, he even helps you cook when he gets home, look at my husband, he acts like a lord at home, just waiting for me to serve him."
"Hehe, Sister Chen, what you see is just the surface, that’s him showing off, you think he’s usually good? He’s always like that." Of course, Shen Yunfang couldn’t rub salt in her wounds, so she just casually badmouthed her own a little. Of course, while she spoke, she glanced at the kitchen, if Li Hongjun glared at her, she’d give him some autumn spinach or something, to douse the flames.
"Let’s sit over here, Sister Chen, the kids are watching TV, it’s too noisy for us to talk properly." Shen Yunfang, seeing the kids engrossed in watching TV and not wanting to send her own child away every time, directly pulled Sister Chen to sit beside the dining table. "Sister Chen, what did you want to see me about?"
"Aiya, didn’t I go to see my sister these last few days, I wasn’t at home, and when I came back I heard that your farm is hiring workers, so I just wanted to ask for a favor, to see if there’s still room for one more, I’d like to earn some pocket money too." Sister Chen knew Xiaoshen’s nature, so she didn’t beat around the bush and just directly stated her business.
"Okay, it’s not a big deal, Sister Chen, if you want to go, then it’s the same for everyone, today at one in the afternoon, gather at the entrance of the military district compound, there’s a ride, I’ll call you when I head out." Shen Yunfang readily agreed.
"That’s great, that was all I needed, go on with your business, I have to head back to cook too."
