“Comrade Xiaolan, are you alright?”
Hearing about this matter, she seemed a bit dazed. It made Zhuo Weiping feel uneasy, wondering if she was being too nosy.
Xia Xiaolan came to her senses: “I’m fine, thank you for telling me. This matter is quite important to me. But there’s nothing to hide – Zhang Erlai mentioned my name because someone spread rumors about my unclear relationship with him, forcing me to leave my hometown. You know what happened after that – I left the village to do business in the county town, and now I’m in the provincial capital… Comrade Kang Wei isn’t my boyfriend. I’m grateful for his help, but things just happened to coincide when Zhang Erlai’s thieving caught up with Kang Wei’s group. He was always a good-for-nothing!”
Both publicly and privately, Xia Xiaolan would stand on Zhou Cheng’s side.
She couldn’t let this matter leave any leverage that could be used as a weapon against Zhou Cheng and Kang Wei in the future. Xia Xiaolan didn’t think Zhang Erlai was innocent either – he only got life imprisonment, while the original owner lost her life.
For that lost life, Zhang Erlai’s evil intentions came first, followed by Xia Ziyun’s exploitation – these two should each bear half the responsibility!
Zhang Erlai was sentenced to life imprisonment, receiving his punishment.
Xia Ziyun was still living well as a privileged daughter. Ruining Xia Ziyun’s family restaurant meant nothing – Xia Ziyun herself wasn’t physically harmed.
Xia Xiaolan thought silently that it was still early; she had plenty of time to settle scores with Xia Ziyun.
Though Xia Xiaolan’s emotions were turbulent, she couldn’t show it in front of Zhuo Weiping. She spoke about “Zhang Erlai” with indignation, making Zhuo Weiping feel that continuing would only reopen Xia Xiaolan’s wounds.
Perhaps Chief Liang was right – having Zhang Erlai tried for theft was better than for “hooliganism.”
That troublemaker wasn’t innocent, so why bring out the female comrades he had hurt to face public pressure? Women always suffered more in these situations – gossip could drown someone!
“I was just making conversation, don’t take it to heart.”
If it wasn’t for Xia Xiaolan’s beauty, then it truly was just doing the right thing. Zhuo Weiping wouldn’t comment too much on others’ private affairs, just saying enough to make her point.
Xia Xiaolan knew Officer Zhuo meant well – she was truly a warmhearted police officer.
“Sister Zhuo, I came to ask for your help, not about Ding Aizhen. I was wondering if you could help me get an entry pass for Shangdu University’s library.”
Asking Zhuo Weiping for help meant asking her sister Zhuo Na for help. Since Xia Xiaolan wasn’t familiar with Zhuo Na, she had to take this roundabout approach.
Zhuo Weiping glanced at Xia Xiaolan, “I didn’t expect a private business owner like you to be so interested in studying?”
Blue Phoenix was within Zhuo Weiping’s precinct jurisdiction, so she naturally knew about the business situation. If someone else had a business of this scale, who would still have time for the library? After the restoration of college entrance exams, the overall social atmosphere of the 1980s highly respected educated people – having knowledge and culture was seen as essential for better building socialism. There weren’t as many entertainment options as in later times to distract people; not only did students need to study, but working people hadn’t given up on learning and improving either… Zhuo Weiping also liked people who pursued knowledge – even private business owners could learn and improve!
The warmhearted Officer Zhuo immediately guaranteed:
“I’ll help with this, leave it to me!”
“Thank you so much. It’s almost noon, shall we have lunch together?”
It was indeed almost noon. Zhuo Weiping checked the time, “Did you ride your bicycle? Come on, I’ll take you to Shangdu University right now to get this sorted out with Zhuo Na.”
Zhuo Weiping was a woman of action, and Xia Xiaolan found herself being dragged along to Shangdu University.
Fine Arts students had more flexible schedules than other majors. Zhuo Na was sleeping in her dormitory when her sister caught her red-handed.
While getting dressed, Zhuo Na muttered:
“If you want to borrow books, you can just use my library card. Getting an entry pass is too much trouble.”
Zhuo Weiping scolded her, “Why are you talking nonsense? Sleeping at noon, and is that your lunchbox on the table? You didn’t even wash it after eating!”
It wouldn’t be good to let the sisters argue because of her business, so Xia Xiaolan explained:
“I don’t need to borrow books, I just want a place to study. The library has a good study atmosphere, and I can look up materials anytime.”
Zhuo Na tied her messy hair together, quite puzzled: “Aren’t you a private business owner? Why do you need to study?”
Shouldn’t a private business owner focus on making money? Zhuo Na couldn’t understand, and Zhuo Weiping was also confused. There was nothing to hide about this, so Xia Xiaolan explained naturally: “The private business is my part-time job. I’m a student at Anqing County No. 1 High School, taking the college entrance exam this July. Traveling between Shangdu and Anqing is too far, so I’m looking for a library to study by myself.”
A student?!
The comb in Zhuo Na’s hand fell to the floor.
Most women have some vanity – older ones compare their husbands and children, younger ones compare looks, studies, and work. Xia Xiaolan was too beautiful, which Zhuo Na was conscious of. But thinking that Xia Xiaolan was just a private business owner, Zhuo Na felt they weren’t in the same social class – after all, she was a university student, so how could she compare with a private business owner?
But Xia Xiaolan said the private business was just something she did casually, her real identity was a high school student preparing for the college entrance exam this year… This gave Zhuo Na quite a shock.
Zhuo Weiping didn’t know about this either.
Looking at Xia Xiaolan with curiosity, she hadn’t heard about this when they were in Anqing County. When she first met Xia Xiaolan, she was still dealing in eggs.
“When we first met, I hadn’t started school yet. Conditions didn’t allow it then, but after making some money from business, I was able to enroll at Anqing County No. 1 High School.”
Xia Xiaolan explained everything in just a few sentences.
Zhuo Na still didn’t understand, “Does your school allow you to skip classes?”
What kind of school was this, with such loose management? But then again, in a small place like Anqing County, a school might only have a few students who could get into university, Zhuo Na thought being a student wasn’t much – it wasn’t certain if she could even get into university.
A specialized college was still a university, and a regular undergraduate program was still a university, but key universities like Shangdu University were on another level.
Just because Xia Xiaolan studied in Shangdu University’s library, did that mean she could get into Shangdu University?
However, since Xia Xiaolan said she wanted to study, it did silence Zhuo Na’s muttering. Zhuo Weiping thought pursuing studies was a good thing, and Zhuo Na’s viewpoint aligned with mainstream society.
This kind of help, she had to provide.
Studying came easily to Zhuo Na, but she wasn’t blind to her classmates’ situations. Like Senior Gong Yang, who was so talented but couldn’t devote all his energy to painting – he took all the jobs Zhuo Na looked down upon, wasn’t it because his family conditions didn’t allow otherwise? He had to earn money through part-time work to supplement his professional expenses.
Thinking of Gong Yang, Zhuo Na moved closer:
“Hey, where did you take my senior brother? They all say Senior Gong went to Beijing for sketching, but I don’t believe it.”
Going to Beijing wasn’t free, Zhuo Na didn’t believe at all that Gong Yang went to sketching because he couldn’t afford the expenses of going to Beijing. But Gong Yang did get an introduction letter from the department to go to Beijing… If Senior Gong couldn’t afford it, looking through his social circle, who could afford these expenses? Wasn’t it just the private business owner Xia Xiaolan?