Chapter 442: Chapter 435: Wu’s Sister-in-law’s Black Fingernails
Sisi adapted very well living in the Huangyuan County Government Office because it’s an independent yard. Once the door is closed, she can live her own life, unlike the apartment buildings in Mijia Town before, where a small incident could become the talk of the entire building, which felt rather unpleasant.
The neighboring house is occupied by the Mayor, Hu Dingkun, and the Office Director, a man in his thirties who looks like a skinny scholar and seems to have a frail health; a wind could knock him over.
His wife, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. She’s very robust, speaks loudly and clearly, her voice carrying for miles. According to Su Ping, even from their far distance, she can hear the Director’s wife’s moans at night, like a she-wolf.
Since Sisi got married, Su Ping chats without much filter, talking openly about all sorts of risqué topics, leaving Sisi wide-eyed and considerably astounded, amazed at how open people were in the eighties.
Nobody actually knows the Director’s wife’s name. To her face, people call her Wu’s sister-in-law; behind her back, they call her Wu Dalang because her husband’s name is Wu Jinsong. Sisi wants to laugh whenever she hears this name because his physique is nothing like what the name suggests.
Wu’s sister-in-law doesn’t work due to family difficulties, and the County Committee takes care of her by offering her temporary work in the canteen. It is said that she is notoriously fierce in the County Committee Building, to the point where even the Mayor Hu Dingkun gets a headache seeing her.
Sisi is not well-acquainted with her; they just nod at each other if they meet. Seeing the face of Wu’s sister-in-law, she doesn’t seem to be kindly, and Sisi does not plan to associate with her.
However, Sisi didn’t seek the mountain, but the mountain came to her, so to speak. Since they live next to each other, it’s inevitable to bump into Wu’s sister-in-law. Initially, Sisi would greet her with a smile, but for some unknown reason, Wu’s sister-in-law would always scowl and sometimes even glare at her, leaving Sisi quite frustrated and eventually, she stopped bothering.
A week later, Sisi also started working. Huangyuan Normal College isn’t very big, it’s a specialized college that recruits only within the province.
As an art teacher, her teaching duties are not heavy—only one or two classes per day, and since her husband is the deputy secretary of Huangyuan County, the teachers at the school are all very polite to her and she doesn’t need to adapt to others much.
Generally, after her classes, Sisi would head home, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, very relaxed and comfortable. Therefore, the other residents of the County Committee Building, who are dressed fashionably, young, beautiful, work lightly, and even drive a small car, are extremely envious of Sisi, occasionally making snide remarks.
But they only dare to talk behind her back; after all, Sisi’s husband is the Deputy Secretary—unapproachable indeed!
Yet there’s one person who dares to provoke!
One morning, Sisi returned home before noon. Today she had her period; her back felt a bit sore and swelled, worsening after standing for a class period. Once the class ended, she hurried home early to cook herself some ginger brown sugar water to drink hot.
After drinking her concoction, Sisi felt much more comfortable and somewhat relieved; she and Tian Xinhua had been intimate almost every day that month. She initially thought they might conceive due to their frequent encounters, but it turns out she didn’t get pregnant.
Daddy might be disappointed.
"Xinhua, Ah Nan, I have no other requests for you two, just one – give me a grandchild as soon as possible, to take over my work in the future. Twins would be even better, it’s just a pity that we’re only allowed to have one child now. If only we could have more!"
Remembering He Xuewen’s parting admonition, the corners of Sisi’s mouth couldn’t help but curl upwards, jokingly thinking to herself that Daddy is treating her like a sow wanting her to have twins in one go!
Sisi didn’t feel like cooking lunch at all, but not eating wasn’t an option either. After pondering over it, she decided to take her meal ticket and bowl to the canteen. She had eaten there a couple of times before; the food wasn’t too awful but definitely not delicious either. Today’s noon meal would just have to do.
Tian Xinhua wasn’t in the county; he had mentioned last night that he was going to the countryside and might return late.
Because the office building had not yet finished work, there weren’t many people in the canteen, just some family members getting their meals. Sisi was queuing with her bowl, and in front of her were two middle-aged women. They had intended to give up their spot to her when they saw her coming, but Sisi softly declined with a smile.
The two women felt a bit embarrassed, quickly got their meals, smiled at Sisi, and then walked away. Sisi noticed that both of them had picked pork stew with glass noodles and cornmeal buns, sparking a thought in her mind.
The one serving food was the robust Wu’s sister-in-law. When she saw Sisi, she inexplicably snorted, leaving Sisi puzzled, not understanding when she had offended the director’s wife.
"One serving of pork stew with glass noodles and a white bun," Sisi said, suppressing her doubts and handing over the meal ticket.
Wu’s sister-in-law took Sisi’s bowl, and Sisi noticed her dirty fingernails, frowning. Wu’s sister-in-law stirred noisily in the noodles with a ladle, scooped up some noodles and even shook them, causing the pork on top to fall back into the container, leaving just noodles in the ladle.
Not having pork was not a problem since Sisi didn’t like that fatty meat anyway, but why was Wu’s sister-in-law’s thumb submerged in the noodles?
Thinking of those filthy fingernails, Sisi felt nauseous. She wanted to say something but decided to hold back, not wanting to cause trouble for Tian Xinhua. She thought it might be better to just throw away the food and not eat it.
However, Wu’s sister-in-law seemed to be intentionally provoking her. As she handed the bowl back to Sisi, her greasy thumb stuck with a mushy noodle touched the bowl. Just as Sisi took the bowl, Wu’s sister-in-law snatched it back, flicking the noodle off her thumb into Sisi’s bowl and then snorted with satisfaction.
Enough is enough, this can’t be borne any longer!
Already irritated, Sisi was infuriated by this woman, thinking how could this obese woman think she was so easy to bully?
"Wu’s sister-in-law, what do you mean by this? Are you trying to make me eat the dirt from your hand?" Sisi said coldly.
’Clang’
Wu’s sister-in-law threw the ladle back into the container, splashing some soup, then planted her hands on her hips, yelling with a voice as loud as a bell:
"What dirt? Where would I get any dirt from? Don’t spout nonsense!"
"Wu’s sister-in-law, look at your own fingernails, have they not been washed for two years? You soak such filthy nails in my food and flick noodles from your hand into my bowl, isn’t it deliberate to make me eat dirty stuff?"
"Phooey! What’s wrong with my nails? This is how all of us laboring people’s hands look like. It’s fine to eat a bit dirty and not fall sick. You look down on us working people, then don’t come to the canteen to eat!"
Wu’s sister-in-law shamelessly argued, her spit flying into the dish while speaking, which made Sisi feel even more nauseous.
"Who says all working people are unhygienic like you? Real working people are diligent, clean, and lovely, not like you with greasy hair, black nails, and speaking with spit flying. Are you intentionally making everyone eat your saliva?"
As soon as Sisi finished, the others who were eating couldn’t continue and stared dumbfounded at their food.
"What are you, a little devil, talking about? Saying I’m unhygienic? You think I’m like you, dressing up like a vixen to seduce men every day! Phooey!"
Sisi’s face was frosty, and a chill seemed to emanate from her, causing those nearby trying to mediate to shiver. The Deputy Secretary’s Wife truly had an imposing aura.