Is this perhaps the story of a female version of Gao Yanei?
Mi Fang took a liking to Wang Ding'an, so she found an excuse to break up his marriage, and then married Wang Ding'an herself?
But labeling Qi Songlu as a female hooligan, having her paraded through the streets, publicly humiliated, and harassing her year after year - these are not things a normal person would do.
"I heard you're doing very well with your engineering work. You're truly a capable woman. But why did you put all your savings with Song Huaihua?" Mi Fang shook Chen Meilan's hand vigorously. "Does Song Huaihua have any connections or backing? She's just an ordinary person with nothing. But I have connections and backing. From now on, you must keep your savings with me, otherwise I'll be very upset."
Leaning in closer, Mi Fang continued, "The city is in chaos, there are so many thugs around. But don't worry, if you maintain a good relationship with me, I can ensure the safety of your entire family."
"Don't the police deal with those thugs?" Chen Meilan asked curiously.
Mi Fang smiled again, her gums bulging outward exuberantly: "With me protecting you, what do you have to fear?"
This is the so-called vested interest - in her view, this entire city belongs to her family.
Chen Meilan asked another question: "Sister Mi, which year did you start working? Have you always worked at this savings office?"
"1980. I've been working at this savings office for almost ten years now. Sigh, it's so hard for us civil servants to get rich. My relative Mi Lan is doing business in the capital and has made a lot of money. Recently, with my help, she acquired that wholesale market in our city for 200,000 yuan. See how easy it is for them to make money?" Mi Fang said.
No one knew exactly how much money the Mi Lan couple had. They might not be famous in the capital where there were many capable people, but in Xiping City, they were legendary.
Chen Meilan had only recently heard that the price for Yan Dongping's wholesale market was being negotiated. From what Mi Fang said, had the Mi Lan couple already bought it?
"Has Mi Lan been back to Xiping City?" Chen Meilan asked, "Why didn't she come to visit us?"
"Her health isn't good, so she didn't come herself. My second aunt Wang Gebi came to handle it for her," Mi Fang said with a smile. "We have plenty of connections. I just made a few calls, and that building can be transferred immediately."
Although it wasn't clear exactly how much money the Mi Lan couple had, they must be both well-connected and wealthy to be able to buy a whole building.
It should be very easy for them to repay Little Wang's 300,000 yuan, right?
Having gotten the information Yan Zhao had asked for, Chen Meilan naturally had to leave. She pulled her hand away from Mi Fang's and made an excuse: "I didn't bring my ID today. I'll come back another day to open an account."
"By the way, Chen Meilan, do you know Qi Songlu?" Mi Fang let go of her hand, still smiling, but her smile made one's skin crawl.
"Yes, why?" Chen Meilan asked.
Mi Fang put her arm around Chen Meilan. In the sweltering heat, her underarm odor was strong enough to make one faint. She said, "Take my advice, stay away from her. It'll be greatly beneficial for you."
This wasn't advice, but a naked threat.
Chen Meilan smiled obediently, "Alright, I will."
"That's more like it. People should know better. I heard your husband Yan Zhao has a very tough attitude at the police station, he's a troublemaker. Tell him this: work belongs to the country, but your life belongs to yourself. The way he does his job, he'll suffer sooner or later," Mi Fang added.
"Okay," Chen Meilan replied, still meekly.
But after leaving the post office, she was shaking with anger. She remembered a line from Stephen Chow's "Kung Fu Hustle" that she had seen in her previous life: "Is there any justice left? Is there any law left?"
"Did you find out?" Yan Zhao asked eagerly.
Chen Meilan vented all her anger towards Mi Fang onto Yan Zhao: "Yes, I did. Mi Fang has been working at that post office since 1980. You Yans in the police force are all bastards! No wonder everyone calls you green-skinned turtles."
Yan Zhao wasn't used to joking. He stopped in his tracks, his dark eyes fixed intently on Chen Meilan. After a long while, he asked very seriously, "Why are the police bastards, and green-skinned turtles at that?"
Although he was wearing a jacket, his pants were still green, and his usual uniform was green too.
Why green-skinned turtles? Wasn't it because they wore all green and did things only bastards would do?
Everyone cursed them like this behind their backs, they just didn't dare to say it to their faces.
It was a hot day in June, yet Yan Zhao was still wearing a jacket. Chen Meilan was angry at the police, but not really at Yan Zhao. Afraid he might die of heat, and since they happened to have some time and were passing by a department store, she said, "Let's go buy you a couple of outfits?"
"I haven't received my salary yet. I'll buy them myself when I do," Yan Zhao said.
Dealing with this stubborn man's mule-like temperament, Chen Meilan tried to say as tactfully as possible, "You can pay me back when you get your salary. I have money on hand. The short-sleeved shirts from Montagut and Pierre Cardin in the department store are quite nice. Come on, let's go buy you a couple of sets."
"No need," Yan Zhao said coldly, then strode off and quickly boarded a bus, reaching out his hand to wait for Chen Meilan.
Chen Meilan's voice was actually very low when she boarded the bus. As she brushed past him, she muttered under her breath, "Green-skinned turtle."
Yan Zhao grabbed Chen Meilan's hand, looking at her in disbelief, his dark face flushing red.
His grip tightened, causing Chen Meilan pain.
This man had an extremely strong sense of self-esteem. If someone else had insulted him like this, they probably would have been beaten to a pulp by now.
Chen Meilan mustered up the courage to break free from Yan Zhao's grip and found a seat to sit down.
The bus was crowded, and Yan Zhao had no seat, so he stood beside her, staring at her continuously. He was probably shocked, wondering when his usually gentle, good-tempered wife, as soft as dough, had learned to curse, and even use the term "green-skinned turtle."
Of course, this greatly stimulated Yan Zhao's self-esteem.
He probably thought that Qi Songlu being bullied like that, and Director Mi being a gang leader for so many years without facing legal consequences, was the reason for Chen Meilan's anger and for calling him a green-skinned turtle.
So for the next few days, no matter how late he came home, Yan Zhao would wake Chen Meilan up to tell her about any progress on the case.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
According to Yan Zhao, he had interviewed many people who were involved in the underworld back then, and had obtained many effective testimonies. He even managed to get the final signature from the city bureau for Qi Songlu being labeled as a female hooligan back then, and that signature was from Director Mi.
In other words, Mi Fang reported it, and Director Mi made the final decision.
Qi Songlu's "female hooligan" crime was created single-handedly by this father-daughter duo.
Director Mi was even more formidable. If all the lives lost directly or indirectly due to the gangsters were counted on his head, it would be at least seven or eight.
Not to mention that Director Mi's involvement in organized crime should be subject to severe crackdown, Qi Songlu's case was a wrongful conviction that could be overturned.
Now, as long as Qi Songlu reported her case to the Jindong Road Police Station and stated her wrongful conviction from back then, the police could initiate an investigation and clear her name.
Chen Meilan, who had been dozing off, suddenly became wide awake when she heard that Qi Songlu's case might be overturned: "Will Director Mi be sentenced to prison?"
"Yes, I will do my best to push for his imprisonment," Yan Zhao said.
"What about Mi Fang? Will she be arrested? Will you beat her up?" Chen Meilan asked again.
"No," Yan Zhao naturally handled things officially and spoke the truth.
Indeed, nothing would happen to Mi Fang. Reporting prostitution wasn't wrong, and although she instructed thugs to harass Qi Songlu, it didn't cause physical harm. At most, after the police investigated, she would receive criticism and a warning.
But this was reality. Being able to take down Director Mi, the big gang leader, and restore peace to society without thugs slashing tires, putting thumbtacks on seats, or extorting protection money from schoolchildren, was already a good outcome.
Chen Meilan then lay back down, ready to continue sleeping. Suddenly, Yan Zhao reached out and pulled her up, staring into her eyes. He even pointed at her nose and said word by word: "Other police might be green-skinned turtles, but I'm not."
Of course, Chen Meilan knew Yan Zhao wasn't, but she was provoked by his rigid tone. Why did he always sound like he was arguing when he spoke? Couldn't he just talk nicely?
Seeing that he had moved to another bed and seemed to have fallen asleep with his eyes closed, Chen Meilan raised her fist, pretending to hit him.
Yan Zhao's eyes suddenly opened wide. The moonlight shining through the window reflected in his gaze, making him look wolf-like.
"Are you itchy? Let me scratch your back," Chen Meilan's fist immediately transformed into a small, half-open claw as her face broke into a wide smile.
Yan Zhao looked at her for a moment, then surprisingly turned over contentedly, exposing his lean, flat back to her, and said, "Alright."
I'll scratch you to death! Chen Meilan thought to herself.
But actually, she had gradually figured him out.
Yan Zhao just looked older and had a gloomy disposition, that's all.
He was only three years older than her. Men mature later, and despite having two sons running around, he was still essentially a big boy at heart.
Moreover, he had an extremely strong sense of self-esteem, was particularly stubborn, and refused to admit defeat.
To sentence an old bureau chief of the city police department, and with Yan Zhao planning to push for another public trial using his own efforts, she wasn't sure if he could actually pull it off.
However, Chen Meilan was also prepared to wait and see, feeling quite excited about the prospect.
As for Qi Songlu, after resting well for two days, it was time for her to report to the Xishan Company.
Before she went, Yan Xishan had already boasted that he could scare Qi Songlu away with just three sentences, claiming she would run out of the Xishan Company in tears.
For this purpose, he had even called in dozens of miners from the mines to cheer him on.
He was determined to protect his financial freedom.
Qi Songlu had cut her hair short, put on new clothes, and bought herself a crossbody bag.
While cleaning, she had even found an axe for chopping firewood at Old Man Yan's house, which she had sharpened until it gleamed. On the new Monday, without needing Chen Meilan to accompany her, she shouldered her bag and went to be the accountant for Yan Xishan at the Xishan Company.
Of course, as soon as she entered, Yan Xishan was well-prepared. He directed the coal yard workers to jeer at Qi Songlu, with some whistling, and some even brazenly starting to urinate right in front of her after dropping their pants.
But it wasn't surprising. Coal miners were of that quality, after all. Their heads were tied to their waistbands, and they usually did life-threatening work in bottomless coal pits, so it was inevitable that they would be a bit uncouth.
That kind of rowdy atmosphere would probably have scared an inexperienced woman to the point of wetting herself.
But how could Qi Songlu, who had been paraded through the streets and been to prison, be afraid of them?
At first, she still asked Yan Xishan politely where the company seal, his personal seal, and the financial seal were, as well as the account books.
She wanted the public account passbook, checks, and all the company seals.
Because all of Xishan Company's money was deposited in a public account opened in Chen Meilan's name, this money could only be withdrawn using the personal seal, financial seal, and checks.
It couldn't be withdrawn with just the passbook in Chen Meilan's hands.
Yan Xishan naturally wouldn't give her the seals. He waved his hand to signal the miners to be quiet, pulled out a fan from his waist, and said with a smile while fanning himself: "Qi Songlu, look at all these hooligans here. With me around, it's still okay, I can scold them for you. But if I'm not here, what if they not only grope you but even rape you?"
Qi Songlu looked at him coldly, with what seemed to be a half-smile.
Yan Xishan winked and made faces, deliberately trying to scare her. The gang behind him grinned wickedly: "Oh, you female hooligan, you're so pretty. Brother wants you, brother wants to do you."
Chen Meilan, worried, had followed and was watching from outside the Xishan Company.
She saw Qi Songlu provoking a group of miners, but not panicking at all.
She gave a cold laugh and asked Yan Xishan: "I've been sleeping at a stall in the wholesale market for years, with no doors or windows. Yan Xishan, do you know how many little thugs have bullied me and tried to rape me at night?"
Yan Xishan felt quite sorry for Qi Songlu, and he felt especially guilty towards her in his heart.
Because it was indeed he who had lured Wang Ding'an out to dance back then.
He didn't know why Qi Songlu had inexplicably become labeled as a female hooligan.
In fact, he and Hu Xiaomei hadn't originally slept together. It was only that one time, to borrow money, that he sacrificed his virtue and got involved with Hu Xiaomei.
One mistake led to another, resulting in today's irresolvable situation.
But when it came to financial freedom, he could deposit money in the public account, but he couldn't let others manage his accounts.
After all, if he was in a good mood, he could spend eight hundred or a thousand in one night at a nightclub. How could he spend like that if someone else was managing the money in the future?
So he said: "I know you're pitiful... but Qi Songlu, these coal miners want to rape you, and I'm afraid I can't look after you. You're already so miserable, don't make yourself even more wretched, okay?"
"I'm not pitiful at all, and I can be particularly vicious," Qi Songlu said, suddenly raising her foot and kicking Yan Xishan right in the crotch with lightning speed, making him jump up.
It was a genuine kick, hitting Yan Xishan so hard that he saw stars and quickly curled up like a shrimp.
The pain was so intense he couldn't even cry out.
Turning to look at the group of miners, Qi Songlu said: "When I was doing labor reform as a female hooligan, because there was no cell for female hooligans in the detention center, I was locked up with over a hundred male hooligans. We did labor reform together, slept on the same big plank bed. For a whole seven days, I lived with those men. How many male hooligans wanted to rape me? They all ended up crippled by my kicks like this. If you dare..."
She shouted fiercely: "Come if you're not afraid of death!"
Saying this, she actually pulled out a shiny, polished large axe from her big bag, entered Yan Xishan's office, looked around, searched up and down, and found Yan Xishan's safe.
With a loud crack, the locked safe already had a dent on top from her strike.
Seeing this situation, Yan Xishan knew the game was up.
Limping and clutching his crotch, he decided to hand over the keys first.
At least to save the safe - that cabinet cost eight thousand yuan!
Damn it!
From then on, the Xishan Company had a new living ancestor. If Chen Meilan was the grandmother, this was the grandfather.
Of course, Yan Xishan would still try to find ways to drive her away.
But for now, he had to yield.
The rape threats were just intimidation, and the hooliganism was just a joke.
After all, Qi Songlu was a woman, so she needed to be given a separate office. Yan Xishan also had to instruct his subordinate miners not to bare their chests and backs or relieve themselves in public anymore. They had to cover up their bellies and buttocks, so as not to be laughed at by the female comrade.
Otherwise, they should beware of Qi Songlu's axe chopping off their three-inch little willies.
That axe was sharpened so bright and shiny, it would be far too easy to chop off little willies with it.
And so, without shedding blood, Chen Meilan's long-held worries and concerns were resolved.
In just three days of work, Qi Songlu had taken possession of the company seal, personal seal, and financial seal, and had calculated the Xishan Company's accounts crystal clear, handing them over to Chen Meilan in an orderly fashion.
...
It was almost July, and the children were about to start their summer vacation.
With Qi Songlu's help, Chen Meilan's burden was greatly reduced.
Recently, the Qinchuan Group was wrapping up, and the Dongfang Group hadn't officially started yet. Most of the migrant workers had also gone home to harvest wheat.
Chen Meilan didn't need to pay out huge sums in wages and could take a solid rest for a while.
Originally, she only picked up Little Wang and Yuanyuan every other day, alternating with Yan Dawei and his wife to pick up the children.
Recently, she simply picked up the children every day, letting Yan Dawei and his wife rest first. Once the Dongfang Group officially started operations, she could then pass the task of picking up the children to the couple.
However, today when Little Wang and Yuanyuan came out of the school gate, they didn't seem very happy. Little Wang's head appeared to have faint scratch marks, and Yuanyuan was also sulking, walking very slowly, far away from Little Wang.
Seeing Chen Meilan arrive, Yuanyuan ran a few steps to hold Chen Meilan's hand, and surprisingly asked, "Mom, can we not keep Yan Wangqi anymore?"
What kind of big incident could make Yuanyuan say she didn't want her brother?
"Yuanyuan, how can you say such a thing..." Chen Meilan shook her head, trying to signal with her eyes for Yuanyuan to be quiet.
But Yuanyuan was clearly too angry to care about Chen Meilan's eye signals. With red-rimmed eyes, she actually said, "Doesn't Yan Wangqi have another mom? Anyway, I don't want him anymore. Let him go find his other mom."
Little Wolf didn't understand anything, and he had no memories from when he was younger. He was terribly surprised and ran over to ask Little Wang, "Brother, we all only have one mom, but you actually have two?"
Little Wang stopped and looked at his younger brother, suddenly reaching out to tap him on the forehead.
The little wolf let out a cry and turned to complain, "Mama, Big Brother Little Wang hit me. Send him away, tell him to go find his own mother."
Little Wang also burst into tears.
How could the usually harmonious trio of siblings suddenly be at odds?
Children in blended families are bound to have conflicts.
But the most hurtful thing is to tell someone to leave. For example, in her past life, when Lv Erniu got angry, she would ask Lu Jingyu if they could send Zhaodi away, saying she didn't want Zhaodi anymore.
Although she would apologize to Yuanyuan afterwards, that kind of talk causes irreparable harm to a child.
Chen Meilan had experienced this herself, so she instinctively tended to side with Little Wang on this issue.
She sternly said, "Yan Shengnan, I don't care what happened between you two, but apologize to Little Wang right now."
"No," Yuanyuan didn't give Chen Meilan any face at all. "I don't want him anymore!"
Those words can be very hurtful, and Little Wang was a child with an especially strong sense of pride. Last year he had even been saving money to move out on his own. What if Yuanyuan's words caused him to run away from home?
But clearly, Chen Meilan was worrying too much.
Because after crying for a while, Little Wang stomped his foot and chased after Yuanyuan, constantly trying to talk to her.
The little girl ignored him.
When he chased her, she would stop. When he stopped, she would walk forward. In any case, she refused to walk together with him.
Finally, Yuanyuan caught up with Ningning and walked side by side with her, completely leaving Little Wang behind.
As for Little Wang, after returning home he didn't say a word. He threw down his schoolbag, moved over a stool, and started punching the sandbag with puffing breaths.
Yan Zhao called to say he was bringing some army comrades over for dinner tonight, so Chen Meilan should prepare more dishes.
It just so happened that Chen Meilan had been staying at home with free time these past few days, and had made a lot of prepared foods. There was marinated beef, boiled meatballs, and fried yellow croaker frozen in the refrigerator. With the hot weather, prepared foods from outside weren't safe, so she had also braised some pork intestines and trotters.
When she heard Yan Zhao say six or seven comrades were coming, she almost blanked out thinking about how much food she'd need to make.
But since she had prepared foods, this meal wouldn't be too difficult to put together. So she took out several steamed dishes to defrost, washed some lettuce and shepherd's purse, peeled a bamboo shoot, and cut some eggplant, potatoes and tomatoes to have ready for cooking later. Then she came out of the kitchen.
Yuanyuan was playing the piano, and Little Wolf was doing horse stance exercises.
When she had come in earlier, Little Wang was punching the sandbag.
Now an hour had passed, and Little Wang - who normally would cry out that his hands hurt after just touching the sandbag once, and ask his brother to fan him and his sister to blow on his hands - was still punching away.
Of course Yuanyuan was the apple of Chen Meilan's eye. She didn't want her daughter to encounter any setbacks, and hoped she would have a smooth and peaceful life.
But at the same time, she didn't want to spoil her too much.
Although Yan Zhao didn't talk much, he doted on Yuanyuan a lot. Whenever he had time, he would watch her play piano, help her wash clothes, organize her schoolbag, replace her eraser when it got small, and smooth out her homework books.
With this meticulous care in every detail, Yuanyuan naturally became pampered.
The way Yuanyuan spoke to Little Wang today made Chen Meilan vaguely feel that perhaps having a brother and father who spoiled her so much had made her daughter too delicate?
But she didn't say anything herself, and Little Wang wouldn't say either. Chen Meilan didn't know what had actually happened, so what could she do?
Just then, Little Wang punched too forcefully and lost his balance, nearly falling over with an "ouch." Chen Meilan steadied him and took the opportunity to ask, "Do you want to eat some little meatballs?"
Little Wolf cried out, "Mama, are they beef meatballs? I want the braised ones!"
What picky little kids - fried food alone couldn't satisfy them anymore. They only liked it if the meatballs were not just fried, but also braised afterwards.
Little Wang jumped down from the stool and looked at his skinny little arms as he walked towards the kitchen, glancing at Chen Meilan. As soon as he entered the kitchen, he raised both hands and said, "Alright, alright, Mama. Yes, your precious daughter was wronged, but I didn't do it. I made a mistake, but I was just deceived by someone, okay?"
Seeing the meatballs weren't defrosted yet, the boy turned back, pursed his lips, and suddenly hung his head dejectedly to ask Chen Meilan a question: "Mama, if I hurt Yuanyuan, would you send me away too?"
After all, they weren't blood-related. There would always be a barrier between a stepmother and stepson.
Chen Meilan had been worried and anxious that Yuanyuan might hurt Little Wang's self-esteem.
But clearly, what Little Wang was concerned about was that he had caused his sister trouble at school, and whether Mama would get angry and want to send him away like his sister did.
In that moment, Chen Meilan was stunned.
The worry on Little Wang's face was genuine. The child pursed his lips, looking extremely anxious.
Seeing Chen Meilan not answer, he asked again softly, "Will you?"
Chen Meilan finally replied calmly, "Why would I send you away? I'm still waiting for you to get a bit older, see you not listening, not studying hard, always fighting outside and skipping school, and then anger your dad and me to death."
Little Wang was stunned for a moment, not understanding what his mom meant.
So the little boy just silently looked at his mom, trying to figure out the meaning of her words.
Chen Meilan stood on tiptoe to take down half a flatbread from the basket Yan Zhao had hung up. She broke it in two, spread some chili oil inside, and was about to hand it to Little Wang when she pulled it back, gesturing for him to wash his hands first.
Little Wang washed his hands quickly like a cat washing its face, then came back.
The boy took a big bite of the bread before saying, "Well you've got that all wrong. I'll definitely study hard. I won't fight or skip school. I won't anger you to death."
Chen Meilan chuckled and said teasingly, "Well then I'll have to wait and see if you can do it."
After this brief victory, Little Wang sighed.
Now he was willing to talk to Chen Meilan about it. He said, "I was tricked this time. Liu Jiaxuan in our class has been playing with me a lot lately, calling me 'big brother.' I often bring him to play with my sister. But today he actually went to find my sister alone and gave her a little note. That little bastard..." Little Wang leaned in close to Chen Meilan with an incredulous look and said, "You know what, Mama? He actually wrote in the note that he wants to be good friends with my sister."
Not only did Little Wang find it unbelievable and infuriating, Chen Meilan was also stunned.
Society really had become open.
In her past life, Chen Meilan had heard people say elementary school students passed notes to each other, but she thought it was just a joke.
She never imagined that elementary school students nowadays would actually pass little notes!
Of course, Yuanyuan could play piano and sing, and had even performed a solo on Children's Day.
So even though she was young, she was quite popular at school.
So was Little Wang now experiencing the difficulties of being a brother to a sister who was too well-liked?
"Alright, I'm going to practice punching now," Little Wang said after finishing the flatbread and wiping his mouth. "They don't know whose sister Yan Shengnan is. Hmph, I'll train my fists to be rock-hard. Whoever dares to be friends with my sister, I'll beat them to death."
Just as the boy walked out, he ran into his dad coming in with six or seven police officers.
Ma Bo was there, along with several others he had seen before but didn't know. They were all in police uniforms, clearly having just gotten off work when Yan Zhao invited them over.
And the police officer Little Wang hated most, Wang Ding'an, was shockingly among them.
Wiping the red oil from his mouth, Little Wang looked at his dad in confusion.
He didn't know what was going on.
Chen Meilan was also stunned in the kitchen.
Yan Zhao had actually invited Wang Ding'an to their home?
And called a group of his comrades too?
Wasn't he planning to push for the police to investigate the rice bureau? Could it be that today he was setting up an ambush for Wang Ding'an?
