Chapter 109 - 57: Chaff-and-Bran Wife of the 1950s (57)

Chapter 109: Chapter 57: Chaff-and-Bran Wife of the 1950s (57)

A cold sneer echoed in her mind.

’So novels really are naive. How much of life’s true cruelty can be captured in the pages of a single, thin book?’

The machinery factory was huge, with tens of thousands of employees. Just how outstanding could Wang Xianbing possibly be? He had managed to climb to the position of factory director in just ten short years, all thanks to one "meritorious deed" after another.

But the machinery factory was a key state-sponsored project. How many problems could possibly arise that only he, conveniently, was able to solve?

At that moment, Zhu Yun understood. She recalled a term from a future era: "crime-based promotion."

Wang Xianbing wasn’t working alone.

Behind him stood the Lu Family, lurking in the shadows of the Lin Family—a gang of mounted bandits who had once terrorized the area around Shan Province!

The Lu Family had taken advantage of the wartime chaos to flee to the Capital City and assume new identities, but they could never erase the greed and cruelty ingrained in their hearts.

If these people were pushed into a corner, or if a huge prize was dangled in front of them, could they really stop themselves from taking up the butcher’s knife again?

Zhu Yun looked down, stroking her belly. ’So, Lin Jin wants to wipe out me and the Chu family in one fell swoop.’

’If I didn’t return the favor, wouldn’t that be a disservice to all of Lin Jin’s painstaking scheming?’

Lin Jin and Wang Xianbing spent a night at her parents’ house and returned carrying even more than they had brought with them. They flaunted their numerous bags as they passed through the city—milk powder, malted milk, a ten-pound bag of high-quality flour, a huge slab of meat—they truly had everything. Such a display would have been conspicuous even in normal times, let alone now, when most people couldn’t get enough to eat.

If Wang Xianbing hadn’t been on the factory’s fast motorcycle, they would have likely been surrounded by the starving men who had flooded into the city looking for a way to survive.

When they reached the residential compound, their haul made more than a few people green with envy.

Wang Xianbing still had work to do. He dropped Lin Jin and their daughter off at home, had a quick drink of water, and left.

Old Mrs. Wang rummaged through the items on the table. When she saw that her daughter-in-law, for once, didn’t try to stop her, she felt a little awkward. "Er, Lin Jin... Jingjing just got her period and isn’t feeling well. I’ll just take a pack of brown sugar for her..."

"Oh," Lin Jin said.

Mrs. Wang’s eyes lit up. "And Lin Jin," she added, "everyone in the city is just eating thin porridge these days. I wonder what your brothers, sisters-in-law, and their kids are eating. You have a lot of milk powder, don’t you? How about you spare some for the children? It’s fine for us adults to suffer a little, but we can’t let the children go without, right?"

Lin Jin nodded and hummed in agreement.

Overjoyed, Mrs. Wang quickly began picking through the items. No matter what she asked for, Lin Jin simply agreed, as if she were in a daze.

Only after she had locked everything from the table away in a drawer in her room did Mrs. Wang ask in a good mood, "Lin Jin, what’s wrong? How come you’re so down after a trip to your parents’?"

Lin Jin finally let out a small "ah?" and looked at her blankly.

After Mrs. Wang repeated herself, Lin Jin, her face pale, said hesitantly, "Mom, I’m just worried."

Old Mrs. Wang loved to gossip and couldn’t stand being left hanging like this, so she urged her to continue.

"Sigh... Xianbing and I were carrying all these things on our way to and from my parents’ house. Normally, it wouldn’t be a big deal—people would just be envious of our family’s good fortune. But you should have seen it today. Everyone’s eyes were burning with jealousy. It looked like they wanted to pounce on us."

"I was sitting on the back of the bike with our daughter, and someone nearly pulled me off. And just now, when we were registering at the gate, there were people lurking about. They were dressed in rags, but they looked absolutely vicious. It was terrifying!"

Old Mrs. Wang dismissed her concerns. "Then just don’t go out as much. Doesn’t the factory have security guards? No matter how tough those people are, they wouldn’t dare break into our home, would they?"

Lin Jin pursed her lips. "Mom, our factory grounds are huge. Think of how many people come in and out every day. How could the gate guards possibly recognize every single person? If someone slips through the cracks, then we..."

Mrs. Wang was taken aback. The residential compound was mostly filled with the elderly, women, and children while the men were at work in the factory. If someone really did break in, they wouldn’t even be able to call for help in time.

She was an old woman from the countryside without much worldly experience. All her confidence came from her husband and son.

Now, even her daughter-in-law—whom she didn’t particularly like but viewed as quite capable—was worried. The problem had to be serious. She couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease and anxiety herself.

"Lin Jin, what should we do, then?"

They say you don’t fear the thief who steals, but the thief who has you in their sights. A thief can bide their time, but you can’t be on guard forever.

Only then did Lin Jin say hesitantly, "I think money and possessions are just worldly things. Those people are just desperate and starving. If we give them what they want, they probably won’t hurt us."

"Xianbing says that no matter how much friction there is between neighbors, when something serious happens, you should always help if you can." An uncomfortable look crossed Lin Jin’s face. "Mom, why don’t you take a pack of brown sugar and a bag of milk powder over to our neighbor across the hall? At the very least, our two families should be able to nod and smile when we see each other."