The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 220: Chapter 220: Jinshan Bay’s ”Scandalous Gossip

Yang Jianguo wasn’t at the ornamental fish farm; only Vice Factory Director Liu Xiangnan was there.

He was Village Chief Liu’s nephew, twenty-one years old, of average height with a round, chubby face. He greeted everyone with a smile.

”Sister Han, you’re here. Come on in and have a seat.” Liu Xiangnan greeted Han Xiaorui and gestured for her to sit in the office for a while.

Han Xiaorui smiled. ”Xiangnan, where’s Brother Jianguo?”

Liu Xiangnan replied, ”Brother Jianguo went to procure the feed. He insists on carefully inspecting all the ingredients himself before they’re shipped over.”

Han Xiaorui nodded. ”Our feed is indeed something we can’t be careless about. By the way, Xiangnan, I heard someone filed a report saying the price we’re leasing this land for is too low and against regulations. How is that being handled? Any news?”

Hearing this, Liu Xiangnan smiled. ”Sister Han, don’t worry, there’s no problem with this matter at all. My uncle is always thorough.”

”Our contract for the village’s barren land is all legal and by the book; the price is neither high nor low, so there’s no issue there. This is just someone who saw that our ornamental fish are making money and decided to cause trouble for us.”

”Brother Jianguo hired fourteen people from the village, and the wages are higher than at other factories. He also said there will be bonuses at the end of the year. If someone wants to stir up trouble, we won’t stand for it.”

Han Xiaorui nodded, breathing a sigh of relief. ”That’s good. I’m not worried about whatever rumors are spreading outside. I’m worried about someone inside the factory causing trouble. The consequences would be unimaginable.”

Liu Xiangnan glanced outside to see that no one was there and lowered his voice. ”Sister Han, actually, the reason we know it was Director Lin is that Zhao Jing told us.”

”Zhao Jing?” Han Xiaorui searched her memory but couldn’t place the name. ”Who’s that?”

Liu Xiangnan replied, ”Director Lin’s niece-in-law.”

”Oh!” A flash of understanding hit Han Xiaorui, and she remembered. Rumor had it that Director Lin and his widowed sister-in-law had a rather... intimate history.

Not long ago, Eldest Sister-in-law Lin’s son got married. On the day of the wedding, Second Sister-in-law Lin blocked their door and cursed them out.

The new daughter-in-law, Zhao Jing, was a formidable one. She grabbed Second Sister-in-law Lin by the collar and threw her out the door.

She declared that whatever happened in the past was none of her business.

From now on, she was the one in charge of the household.

If anyone dared to stand at her door and curse at them again, she wouldn’t just throw them out—she’d splash them with night soil.

Later, when the village fish farm was hiring, Zhao Jing, a high school graduate whose family had been fishermen, knew quite a bit about fish.

The powerfully built and straightforward Zhao Jing was considered educated, so she became a team leader.

The pay wasn’t bad: one hundred and twenty yuan a month.

”Why did Zhao Jing say it was Director Lin?” Han Xiaorui asked. This was the crux of the matter.

Thinking of the reason, Liu Xiangnan looked a little embarrassed. ”Well... it’s really about... that whole thing.”

”I know Director Lin and Eldest Sister-in-law Lin had a thing, but didn’t they already break it off? Don’t tell me they’ve rekindled their old flame?” Han Xiaorui asked. She was dying to know this kind of gossip.

Ye Feng looked at the eager Han Xiaorui, then at Liu Xiangnan’s blushing face. The young man was clearly too embarrassed to say.

”Alright, you can see the young man is embarrassed. Stop prying,” Ye Feng said with a laugh, letting Liu Xiangnan off the hook.

Liu Xiangnan gave an awkward laugh. ”It is pretty awkward. Hard to talk about.”

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Liu Xiangnan went to open it, and to his surprise, it was Zhao Jing.

”Vice Factory Director Liu, you’re too embarrassed to say it, but I’m not. You’re not supposed to air your dirty laundry in public, but I’m not afraid to.”

Hearing this, Liu Xiangnan’s scalp prickled with anxiety. He quickly urged, ”Oh, for crying out loud, could you please lower your voice?”

Zhao Jing had a sturdy build. She was about five-foot-seven but probably weighed around 165 pounds.

In this day and age, that made her taller and stronger than some men. No wonder she could grab the four-foot-eleven Second Sister-in-law Lin by the collar and throw her out the moment they disagreed.

Zhao Jing sighed. ”Fine, of course. Sister Xiao Han, here’s what happened. Lin Meng and I fell in love on our own. My family was against it at first, mainly because my mother-in-law and Uncle Lin had an ambiguous relationship, which gave her a bad reputation.”

”But Lin Meng and I were truly in love, so in the end, my parents had no choice but to agree. On the day I married into the family, someone blocked our door and cursed us out. I was furious, so I took action and dealt with Aunt Lin.”

”After I closed the door, I told my mother-in-law that whatever happened in the past was probably due to life’s hardships. Now that times are better, we don’t have to live at the mercy of anyone’s moods. Even if not for herself, she should think about her son, and her future grandsons and granddaughters.”

”My mother-in-law burst into tears right then and there. She promised me she would absolutely never associate with Uncle Lin again. To that end, she even found a job and started working from early morning to late at night.”

”But Uncle Lin, that one... he actually went to my mother-in-law’s workplace and demanded to know if I had forced her to stay away. My mother-in-law cursed him out and sent him away, but he wasn’t happy about it. He came to curse at me and even tried to hit me, so I slapped him right across the face.”

”And then there was Aunt Lin. She didn’t dare make a fuss with her own man, so she ran to my mother-in-law’s workplace and called her a ’broken shoe.’ So I beat Aunt Lin up again.”

”Uncle Lin, thinking he’s all high and mighty as the village director, went to Yang Changzhang and told him to fire me. But Yang Changzhang values my serious work ethic, so he refused. He said he wouldn’t fire an employee without cause over a family matter.”

”After that, he started making trouble. He threatened me to my face, saying he’d make sure our farm couldn’t stay open. A few days later, someone filed the report, and people started gossiping.”

Listening to this soap-opera-level gossip, Han Xiaorui wished she had a plate of peanuts and sunflower seeds to snack on while she listened. It would have been absolutely riveting.

However, she wasn’t gossiping about scandals with Granny Cai; she was talking to Zhao Jing, the person at the center of it all. It would be disrespectful to show her amusement too obviously.

Han Xiaorui nodded. ”So that’s how it is. No wonder.”

Zhao Jing looked guilty. ”If our farm gets shut down because of me, I’ll be the one to blame. Why don’t you just fire me? After all, Uncle Lin is the village director, and he’s about to become the village party secretary.”

”Our farm is right here in the village. It’s easy for him to cause trouble. If he starts bringing people over for ’inspections’ every other day, demanding food, drinks, and gifts, the farm will run into problems sooner or later.”

Seeing this, Liu Xiangnan quickly said, ”Zhao Jing, just focus on your work. Brother Jianguo said that no one can touch this farm.”

”But that Lin Ergou is a bad sort, full of nasty tricks,” Zhao Jing said in her agitation, using Director Lin’s nickname.

Liu Xiangnan waved his hand. ”You don’t need to worry about that. Just focus on your work. If the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up.”

”Brother Jianguo and I will solve the problem with Director Lin. We have a lot of orders right now. You just work hard and raise the fish well. We’ll handle the rest.”

Han Xiaorui also nodded, quite appreciating Zhao Jing’s straightforward and feisty personality. ”That’s right, Zhao Jing, just focus on your work. You’ve seen how often clients come to our farm. There will be even more orders in the future.”

”Don’t worry, the more orders we get, the bigger your bonuses will be. I’m not making empty promises. The end of the year is only a few months away, and you’ll see then whether or not I’m a generous boss.”