Yan Zhao had always harbored a vindictive jealousy towards Yan Xishan.
His attitude towards Yan Xishan was that he hoped he would walk the straight and narrow path, and also wished he would quickly start a family.
He particularly disliked how Yan Xishan would hang around Chen Meilan and Yuanyuan for no reason.
"What do you think?" Chen Meilan asked.
Both were in their second marriages. Yan Xishan wanted to invite Yuanyuan to stay over, just for one night. The whole village was trying to persuade them, and Yuanyuan herself wanted to go. How could Chen Meilan refuse?
"Recently, we received a report from a divorced mother. Her 12-year-old daughter had lived with her biological father for a while. When she returned to her mother, she suddenly underwent a drastic change in personality. Not only did her grades plummet, but she became so rebellious that even her mother couldn't control her. She even ran away from home. After investigation, we discovered that during the time the child lived with her father, she had been sexually abused by him."
Yan Zhao grew increasingly angry as he spoke. He grabbed his keys and slammed them down in front of Chen Meilan.
This statement felt like a stinging slap across Chen Meilan's face. Yan Zhao then retorted, "When have I ever allowed Little Wang into Yuanyuan's bedroom at night? When have I ever entered her bedroom myself? Yan Xishan is a drunkard and a whoremonger. We don't even know if he has any sexually transmitted diseases. How could you let the child stay with him?"
The police deal with all sorts of cases and have seen the darkest sides of human nature.
They approach people with a degree of caution in everything.
But Yan Zhao had never scolded Chen Meilan so harshly before. People are inherently selfish, with a natural tendency to defend themselves. Moreover, as a mother, Chen Meilan always considered Yuanyuan's best interests in everything she did.
At that moment, all Chen Meilan could think of was Yan Xing. If Yuanyuan were just a stepdaughter, would Yan Zhao be this angry? He was treating Yuanyuan as if she were Yan Xing, subconsciously jealous and not wanting Yuanyuan to get too close to Yan Xishan.
Chen Meilan almost blurted this out. But just as she opened her mouth, she swallowed her words.
In the past, Lu Jingyu would keep things to himself, making sarcastic remarks and insinuations.
Or when he was unhappy, he would take it out on Yuanyuan when Chen Meilan wasn't around. He would hint at Lu Dabao and Lv Erniu to bully Yuanyuan.
Blended families already have many conflicts, and Yuanyuan was used to swallowing her grievances. When she was wronged, to protect her mother's marriage, she chose to keep it all to herself.
Many of the injustices the child suffered weren't revealed to Chen Meilan until after she became an adult.
At that time, Yuanyuan would calmly recount these incidents, and Chen Meilan would listen quietly, her tears flowing, the resentment in her heart known only to herself.
In comparison, although Yan Zhao was gruff, at least he was sincere towards Yuanyuan.
Thinking of this, Chen Meilan swallowed her anger again. She put on her cotton coat and said, "Yuanyuan will be back tomorrow. Shall we go to Factory 271?"
"I'll go with the people from the bureau. Why do you need to come?" Yan Zhao asked, pausing as he was putting on his cotton coat.
Seeing that Chen Meilan still wanted to come along, he added, "The kids have exams the day after tomorrow, right? Or is it the day after that? You should pack up, we'll go to the capital. My father should be back from his business trip, and I should also meet with Minister Cui."
In the Soviet Union, Lithuania had already gained independence, and the entire Soviet Communist Party was on the brink of collapse. Yan Peiheng was personally stationed in the Shenyang Military Region and was said to be returning to the capital in the next few days.
Just for Gu Xiao's matter alone, Yan Zhao wasn't in such a hurry. Since Yan Peiheng hadn't returned yet, he hadn't taken leave or prepared to go to the capital.
But in the past few days, Yan Peiheng's office had clearly stated that the Chief of Staff would soon return to the capital. Yan Zhao also heard that Feng Yu was a major embezzler of state assets, and this corrupt official was being protected by Minister Cui.
Of course, immediately, no matter how busy work was, he had to request leave to go to the capital.
However, after delay upon delay, he had originally planned to go to the capital in early December, but now it was already mid-December, and the children would be on winter break right after finishing their exams tomorrow.
None of the three children had been to the capital before, so Yan Zhao intended to take them all along.
Seeing that Yan Zhao was already heading out, Chen Meilan followed him: "Brother, just let me go this once."
She wanted to see Factory 271 in person before deciding whether to take it over.
But to a police officer like Yan Zhao, Chen Meilan's behavior seemed foolish: "How can I bring you along when the police are carrying out a mission?"
"Then just let me see how you carry out your mission, to see how brave and handsome my husband is out there?" Chen Meilan called out again, "Brother..."
"Go to bed. Remember to book train tickets tomorrow!" Yan Zhao surprisingly replied.
Watching him leave and gently close the courtyard gate, Chen Meilan was left gnashing her teeth in frustration.
Just for his tone alone, Chen Meilan would never fall in love with this stubborn mule, this stinking man!
Yan Zhao went to investigate Factory 271 on his own.
The next day, Yan Xishan took Yuanyuan to visit a nursing home, and this event even made it onto the evening news of Xiping TV Station.
Chen Meilan was busy at the construction site today, and there was another matter: Little Lang's wounds wouldn't heal. She first had a talk with the kindergarten teacher and principal, asking if anyone had bullied Little Lang at school. Both the principal and teacher swore that no one had bullied Little Lang.
Little Lang also insisted that he had fallen by himself. With no other choice, Chen Meilan took Little Lang to the hospital again, having the doctor thoroughly examine him from head to toe.
They waited a whole day to get all the test results.
Strangely, looking at the test results, even Little Lang's platelet count had returned to normal recently, and no diseases could be detected. Left with no alternative, Chen Meilan felt that perhaps the provincial hospital's medical equipment wasn't advanced enough. She took all the test reports, planning to take the child to a bigger hospital for a checkup once they reached the capital. Rarely able to skip school and go to the hospital, Little Lang was overjoyed. Blood draws and injections were nothing to him.
Moreover, after leaving the hospital, Chen Meilan bought a chestnut cake. Little Lang couldn't wait and ate a big piece on the bus. The mother and son held hands, singing songs, happily returning home.
Just as they reached their front door, they saw a large crowd gathered in front of their house.
"Yuanyuan was on TV, Meilan. Don't tell me you didn't watch?" Sister-in-law Mao asked first.
Third Sister-in-law Huang, seeing Chen Meilan's bewildered expression, said angrily, "Your daughter was on TV, and you as her mother didn't even care enough to watch? How could you be so neglectful?"
Yuanyuan was actually on TV?
Chen Meilan hurriedly pushed open the door, went inside, and turned on the TV, but by then the news had already finished.
"You, busy with business all day, you've made money alright, even able to afford chestnut cake, but you don't even care about such a big event as your daughter being on TV. Be careful not to get too obsessed with money," Sister-in-law Mao said indignantly.
Just then, Yuanyuan and Little Wang also returned home.
Little Wang followed behind Yuanyuan, looking gloomy, while Yuanyuan was particularly happy.
Her hair must have been done at a salon, braided into many small braids, each with a small hair clip. She was also wearing new clothes bought by Yan Xishan. Chen Meilan felt the fabric and was surprised to find that the pink cotton coat was lined with down. In the 1990s, down jackets were still quite rare in the market, only available in a few big brand children's clothing stores. Chen Meilan estimated this one must have cost at least four or five hundred yuan.
"Yuanyuan, did you have a good time last night?" Little Wang asked with a smile.
Yuanyuan looked content: "Last night, my dad and I didn't sleep at all. He told me jokes all night long. Ah, I'm so tired."
As she spoke, the child yawned heavily.
Chen Meilan's heart skipped a beat. Although she felt she shouldn't think this way, what if Yan Xishan had contracted a disease from prostitutes? It would be very dangerous for Yuanyuan to sleep in the same bed with him.
But after much consideration, she only said, "You have exams tomorrow, go to bed quickly."
"No, I heard many people say I was on TV. I have to watch myself on TV." Saying this, Yuanyuan turned on the TV and tuned to Xiping Satellite TV. Although she was yawning constantly from tiredness, she kept staring at the TV, eagerly waiting to see herself appear on screen.
"Mom, if Yuanyuan doesn't go to sleep now, she'll definitely doze off during the exam tomorrow. She'll certainly do poorly," Little Wang said anxiously, more concerned than the emperor himself.
How could Chen Meilan not see through it? Not to mention the danger of falling ill, Yan Xishan taking the child out was obviously just to make Yuanyuan happy, spending money on her lavishly and entertaining her. She hadn't slept all night yesterday, and if she stayed up late watching TV tonight, she would definitely not do well on tomorrow's exam.
Holding back her frustration, Chen Meilan said to Little Wang, "You have an exam tomorrow, so go to bed early. Try to score better than Yuanyuan, okay?"
After a few years of schooling, Yuanyuan had indeed consistently outperformed him.
As Little Wang thought about this, he suddenly felt cheerful. If he could score better than Yuanyuan this time, wouldn't he be able to show off his big brother status to her in the future?
With this thought, the little fellow happily brushed his teeth, washed his face, and went to bed.
Early the next morning, while the children were taking their exams, Chen Meilan, without discussing it with Yan Zhao beforehand, sent Qi Songlu to the airport to buy five plane tickets for the whole family. She planned to fly to the capital early tomorrow morning.
Of course, as expected, after arranging some work matters at the construction site during the day, when she went to pick up the children in the evening, Chen Meilan saw Yuanyuan with a gloomy face, looking very unhappy.
"Did our Yuanyuan not do well on the exam?" Chen Meilan asked.
Little Wang gleefully said, "Mom, do you know? Little Yuanyuan fell asleep during the exam. She didn't even finish her Chinese paper, and although she completed the Math paper, the head teacher scolded her for a long time after the exam." Indeed, after staying up late for two nights, the child had performed terribly on the exam.
"Stop it, you! I'm already upset," Yuanyuan said angrily, feeling glum.
"Alright, don't think about the exam anymore. Let's go home quickly and pack your bags. I'm taking you to the capital tomorrow," Chen Meilan said.
Normally, these children who had never been out of town should have been very excited to hear about going to the capital.
But Little Wang was so caught up in his schadenfreude that even the prospect of going to the capital couldn't spark his interest. He followed Yuanyuan, deliberately taunting her: "Yuanyuan bombed the exam, my sister bombed the exam this time."
Yuanyuan stomped her feet in anger: "Don't you dare laugh at me, or I'll never consider you my brother again."
Though she said this, Yuanyuan was a child with an extremely strong competitive spirit. One poor performance on an exam, even before the scores were out, and she couldn't bear it herself.
Moreover, after staying up late for two consecutive nights, she was exhausted. Upon returning home, she went to bed early without even eating dinner.
Once his sister fell asleep, Little Wang felt a bit regretful and came to ask Chen Meilan, "Mom, I've been teasing her all this time. Is Yuanyuan angry with me?"
"She didn't do well on the exam. It's bad enough for others to laugh at her, but for you, her brother, to laugh at her – how could she not be angry?" Chen Meilan was a bit upset with Little Wang. She patted the child's head and said, "Don't do it again next time."
Hearing faint crying sounds from the bedroom, Chen Meilan entered and wiped the face of her daughter, who was lying on the kang bed, crying hazily. The little girl, still in a daze, began to cry in Chen Meilan's arms.
Chen Meilan then said, "I know you love your dad and mom in your heart, but from now on, don't go stay with him anymore, okay? Was it worth it to have fun for one night and then bomb the exam the next day?"
This was an innocent eight-year-old girl. Heaven forbid, Chen Meilan hoped that the kind of thing Yan Zhao had mentioned would never happen to her daughter. But to prevent it at all costs, she still had to be cautious. It would be too cruel to alienate Yuanyuan from Yan Xishan, so she used this gentle approach to persuade Yuanyuan to realize on her own that she shouldn't go to Yan Xishan's house anymore.
She thought that this time, Yuanyuan probably wouldn't want to go to Yan Xishan's house again.
But after crying for a while, Yuanyuan said hazily, "In the future, I'll only go on weekends or after exams."
This girl was becoming more and more attached to Yan Xishan, which wasn't a good thing.
...
Yan Zhao had been at work for two days and one night, and Chen Meilan still didn't know what his situation was.
She had already packed the children's luggage and organized the household registration book and her and Yan Zhao's ID cards.
Just as Chen Meilan was about to call Yan Zhao to inform him of the flight time, she saw her sister-in-law Zhou Qiaofang, whom she hadn't seen in a long time, arrive.
"Sister-in-law, please come in and have a seat," Chen Meilan said with a smile.
After entering, Zhou Qiaofang saw Little Wang and Little Lang playing in the yard. She first took out fifty cents from her pocket and gestured for Little Wang and Little Lang to go buy some bubble gum.
Since Chen Meilan was in the kitchen, she simply closed the kitchen door.
Then, with an air of mystery, she said, "Meilan, has Yan Zhao been coming home very late every night recently, often working overtime outside, and sometimes not coming home for entire nights?"
"Yes, he's been quite busy with work," Chen Meilan said as she took a piece of pancake from the basket and gestured for Zhou Qiaofang to eat with her.
Zhou Qiaofang sighed first, then said, "I'm Little Wang and Little Lang's aunt, of course I hope the two children are doing well. Xueqin is their birth mother, she hopes even more that they're doing well. Recently, Xueqin has been doing great in Guangzhou, I heard she's even bought a house..."
Sister-in-law hadn't finished speaking, but Chen Meilan already understood her intention.
Zhou Xueqin wanted to take Little Lang and Little Wang to stay in Guangzhou for a while. Yan Zhao hadn't agreed, so Zhou Xueqin had sent Zhou Qiaofang to act as a mediator.
The day before yesterday, Yuanyuan had gone to Yan Xishan's house, and Chen Meilan had agreed. Logically speaking, if Zhou Xueqin wanted to have the children stay with her, Chen Meilan couldn't refuse.
There was no problem with letting the children stay with their birth mother for a while.
Chen Meilan couldn't refuse this matter. If she did, when Little Wang and Little Lang grew up and understood things, their birth mother might bring this up, and the children would see her as the villain.
So she didn't say anything, wanting to hear what else Zhou Qiaofang had to say.
Zhou Qiaofang continued, "Meilan, recently I asked Little Wang, and he said his dad often doesn't come home for entire nights. I also heard from our accountant Qi Songlu that Yan Zhao has borrowed money from you without saying what it's for. You're my sister-in-law, I don't want to sow discord between you and your husband, but isn't Yan Zhao's recent behavior outside clearly abnormal? Why don't you send Little Wang and Little Lang to Xueqin and let her take care of them for a while? You can focus on keeping an eye on Yan Zhao. Otherwise, if he catches Yan Xishan's disease of fooling around outside, won't you be the one who suffers?"
Chen Meilan understood in her heart.
Many things hadn't deviated from the trajectory of her previous life. During this period in her previous life, Yan Zhao should have also been staying out all night and inexplicably taking money out.
At that time, Zhou Xueqin and Yan Zhao hadn't divorced yet, so she knew these things better than Chen Meilan.
Now that Zhou Xueqin had earned some money and wanted to see her children, but Yan Zhao wouldn't budge and wouldn't send them to her.
So she told Zhou Qiaofang about Yan Zhao staying out all night and quietly spending money, asking her to act as a mediator and first sow discord between Chen Meilan and Yan Zhao.
This was a good move. If she and Yan Zhao had a fight, she would definitely send Little Wang and Little Lang away directly.
Let's not discuss what Yan Zhao was actually doing for now.
It was his fault for keeping it to himself and not talking about it, but when a man makes a mistake, Chen Meilan could deal with it slowly at night in bed.
Sister-in-law knew they were a blended family with inherent conflicts, yet she spoke so bluntly about Yan Zhao.
Wasn't she a woman too? Wasn't she Little Wang and Little Lang's aunt? Didn't she know that some women, whenever they have a fight with their husbands, would take out their anger on the children?
Could it be that she thought Little Lang and Little Wang had been living too peacefully and too well with her?
Chen Meilan didn't say anything more and didn't pay attention to her sister-in-law. She made dinner but didn't invite her to eat.
Feeling awkward, Zhou Qiaofang left.
As soon as Zhou Qiaofang left, Chen Meilan immediately called Chen Degong at the construction site and asked, "Brother, has our construction site phone been used for long-distance calls? How much was the phone bill this month? Have you checked?"
"I don't know who's been making long-distance calls, but I paid 182 yuan for the phone bill this month. It's infuriating," Chen Degong said.
Sure enough, Zhou Qiaofang must have been having long phone conversations with Zhou Xueqin recently. Long-distance calls cost one yuan per minute, so how long must they have talked to rack up over a hundred yuan in phone charges?
182 yuan, that's a month's wages for two migrant workers.
Chen Meilan's hands were shaking with anger as she said, "Brother, go to the telecommunications bureau and tell them directly to disable the long-distance function. From now on, the construction site phone should only be used for local calls."
"We can disable long-distance calls? Alright, I'll go to the telecommunications bureau tomorrow," Chen Degong said.
"Just turn off the long-distance calls. Let's see how Zhou Xueqin can stir up trouble with Zhou Qiaofang when she can't get through."
However, there was still one thing that really angered Chen Meilan.
For nearly two months now, Yan Zhao had taken 2,000 yuan from her and was often out late, coming home smelling of disinfectant. The Yan family men had a nasty habit of not wanting to discuss anything with women unless it involved women directly.
In the past, Chen Meilan wouldn't have asked about it. After all, married couples don't need to explain everything to each other. Chen Meilan kept plenty of things from Yan Zhao too. For couples in their second marriage, keeping some privacy for the sake of the children was only natural.
But now that Zhou Xueqin was using this to drive a wedge between them, Yan Zhao really ought to tell her what he was up to.
Yet Yan Zhao still didn't come home that night.
Early the next morning, with a 10:30 AM flight to catch, Chen Meilan couldn't reach Yan Zhao's office phone. She left a message at the paging service informing him of the flight time.
Then she prepared to take the children to the airport.
Just as they were heading out the door, they ran into Yan Zhao returning home in his white Volkswagen Passat.
He was unshaven and, sure enough, reeked of disinfectant. As soon as he got out of the car he said, "Father won't be back in the capital until tomorrow. We can just take the train. Why did you buy plane tickets?"
The fastest train from Xiping to the capital took 36 hours - a day and a half.
Plane tickets were very expensive in the 90s, but Chen Meilan was worried about Little Lang's health and wanted to get him to the capital for a checkup as soon as possible. Getting there a day earlier was worth the cost.
Normally, Chen Meilan would have explained this to Yan Zhao. But today she was truly angry and didn't bother. She gestured for the children to put their bags in the trunk. Though Yan Zhao opened the passenger door for her, she refused to get in, choosing instead to sit in the back holding Little Lang.
"I'll leave the car at the airport. There's a police post there that can keep an eye on it while we're gone," Yan Zhao said in a conciliatory tone as they drove off.
Chen Meilan merely grunted, not bothering to reply.
With all the children in the car, Yan Zhao didn't say anything more.
After parking, it was like going into battle - lining up to enter the airport, then queuing to print boarding passes. In those days, many people were going abroad to seek their fortunes. As an international airport, Xiping was especially crowded. Chen Meilan watched the children while Yan Zhao waited in line, taking over an hour.
Then there was another hour wait for security. Thankfully, it was the children's first time flying and they were intimidated by the crowds, so even Little Wang, usually the troublemaker, didn't dare run off. Otherwise, with all the child trafficking those days, Chen Meilan would have had her hands full.
By the time they boarded and buckled in, the whole family was exhausted.
Of course, by now Yan Zhao had noticed Chen Meilan's displeasure. He pulled a stack of photos from his pocket and handed them to her, saying: "We tailed them for two days. Though we didn't catch Feng Yu directly, we did confirm that Factory 271 has been selling off state assets. Three large machines have already been sold illegally. Ma Bo and the others are currently tracking down where the stolen goods went."
Chen Meilan just grunted again.
"I hear Feng Yu is in the capital now. Once we get there, I'll have Minister Cui summon him to the military region. We can confront him face-to-face and discuss his case with Minister Cui. How's that?" Yan Zhao added.
Chen Meilan still said nothing.
No, if anything, she was even angrier.
She had been waiting for Yan Zhao to voluntarily confess what he'd been up to lately.
The fact that he launched straight into talking about work only upset her more.
But this is where little girls can be so adorable. Yuanyuan had been crying since waking up in the middle of the night, upset over her poor exam results. Her eyes were as swollen as peaches.
Sitting between Chen Meilan and Yan Zhao in their row of three seats, the little girl looked from one parent to the other. Rubbing her red eyes, she seemed to understand: "Dad, I don't think Mom is angry about anything else. I think it's because you didn't come home last night."
Chen Meilan didn't take the bait, so Yan Zhao had to explain to Yuanyuan: "Dad was working."
"But you didn't come home the night before either, and..." Yuanyuan wrinkled her nose, "Dad, you smell bad."
Yan Zhao finally looked up at Chen Meilan, seeing that she had turned away. After a long moment, he started to explain: "Sun Nutao has cancer."
Sure enough, Chen Meilan, who had been looking away, whipped her head around to stare at Yan Zhao.
Yan Zhao paused for a while, first unbuckling Yuanyuan's seatbelt and gesturing for Chen Meilan to move closer. Then he let out a long sigh and said, "Lung cancer. The doctors say he has six months at most."
Chen Meilan had met Sun Nutao before - a very sturdy middle-aged man who didn't seem to smoke. How could he have lung cancer?
"His daughter is in her last year of high school. We're keeping it from her for now. If the bureau leaders found out about his cancer, they'd reassign him or force him into early retirement. But he wants to keep working as long as possible. For one thing, different positions have different salaries, and he wants to leave as much money as he can for his wife and daughter before he dies. Also, with him still in charge, the leaders' attention is focused on him rather than me, which makes my work easier."
As he spoke, Yan Zhao reached out to smooth down a few strands of Chen Meilan's hair that had been lifted by static electricity from the seat. He said softly, "I'm so sorry. Please be patient with me regarding family matters. He's getting chemotherapy every day now, and I go take care of him every other day. I really can't get away. As for the money I've lent him, I can't get reimbursed yet, but after he passes away, I'll be able to claim it all back."
Chen Meilan had imagined Yan Zhao might be working on a difficult case.
Or perhaps he'd taken on a part-time job, worried they didn't have enough money.
She never imagined his late nights were because Sun Nutao was sick and getting chemotherapy at the hospital.
In her previous life at this time, Little Lang already had leukemia. Now Sun Nutao had cancer too, but Yan Zhao couldn't tell anyone. And Zhou Xueqin stubbornly believed Yan Zhao was having an affair.
So a perfectly good family - two well-behaved sons, a couple well-matched in age and looks - how did their life end up in such a mess?
