“That’s not true. Why would you think that?”
Sister Liu couldn’t judge the truthfulness of Fei Ni’s words. “In such hot weather, why are you wearing such a high-necked blouse?”
Fei Ni silently blamed Fang Muyang, but in front of Sister Liu, she could only say, “I can’t just leave clothes sitting in the closet after making them.”
Sister Liu wasn’t convinced by Fei Ni’s explanation. “You used to come to the bathhouse, why are you suddenly bathing at home?”
These questions would have been too intrusive coming from anyone else, and Fei Ni might not have answered. But Sister Liu’s warm concern was often built on crossing boundaries—if you accepted the braised pork from her lunchbox, used the lard she gave for making pancakes, or took the pork offal she arranged for your wedding, you had to accept her well-intentioned inquiries. Although Fei Ni hadn’t accepted those gifts from Sister Liu, she couldn’t easily refuse her questions. Sister Liu often tried to share her braised pork with her, and though Fei Ni didn’t accept it, Sister Liu later tried to arrange a job for Fang Muyang at the meat processing factory.
Fei Ni hadn’t realized this was the source of Sister Liu’s misunderstanding and had to explain, “We’re temporarily staying at my in-laws’ place, where bathing is more convenient.”
Hearing this, Sister Liu understood that Fei Ni’s in-laws must have a very nice house. Even Feng Lin, who constantly showed off her superiority in their workshop, still had to bathe at the factory.
Sister Liu spoke whatever came to mind: “What do Little Fang’s parents do to get such a nice house?”
Fei Ni thought for a moment before saying that Little Fang’s father was currently waiting for a work assignment, and his mother was a teacher at a school.
“I have a relative who teaches middle school and only got assigned a small room until now. Little Fang’s mother must teach at a university?”
Fei Ni nodded yes.
“That’s wonderful, being able to bathe at home every day. Why hadn’t you mentioned this before?”
“We’re only staying with my in-laws temporarily. We’ll move out in a while.”
“Why move out? Stay there long-term; no one can criticize that. Rules are rules, but human relationships matter too.”
Sister Liu knew that Fei Ni’s brother also worked at the hat factory and hadn’t been assigned housing yet, so he was probably living in Fei Ni’s assigned house. She guessed Fei Ni was afraid people would gossip about her not living in her assigned housing, which was why she said she was temporarily staying with her in-laws, implying she would eventually move back. No one could take back her assigned housing even if she didn’t live there—firstly because she had already exchanged it with someone from another work unit, and secondly, because her brother hadn’t been assigned housing yet.
Sister Liu, as someone in the know, naturally couldn’t let rumors spread, so she told others about Fei Ni temporarily staying with her in-laws.
But some still didn’t believe it: “I heard many university teachers live in dormitory buildings. There are two possibilities here: either Little Fei’s in-laws aren’t ordinary teachers and have a place with hot water baths, or Little Fei is too shy to tell the truth.”
“By your logic, Little Fei would need to get a hospital injury report before you’d believe her.”
Sister Liu didn’t completely believe Fei Ni’s story either, not because she doubted her in-laws had such a nice house, but because of how covered up Fei Ni had been lately. Sister Liu came up with an idea and said to Yuan Hongxiang from the factory union: “Hongxiang, with the Mid-Autumn Festival coming up, isn’t the union planning home visits? Put Little Fei on the list. We can check out her home situation and see if her family relationships are okay. If Little Fei is being mistreated, we can step in and seek justice for her. Little Fei has worked diligently at the factory for years, never been late once, and never refused to cover shifts for others when she could. She’s never been selected as an outstanding worker, and while we can understand if there were always better candidates, shouldn’t you at least visit her? As Little Fei’s direct supervisor, I’ll go with you.”
Put that way, Yuan Hongxiang couldn’t refuse.
Everyone thought this was a good plan—they could assess the situation during the home visit.
On Saturday, Sister Liu informed Fei Ni about tomorrow’s home visit.
Fei Ni’s first reaction was, “Better visit someone else’s home, I don’t qualify.” Fei Ni hadn’t made any special contributions to the hat factory, nor did she have any special difficulties, so logically she shouldn’t be on the visitation list.
Sister Liu said, “How can you not qualify? Everyone has seen how diligently you’ve worked these past years.”
Fei Ni wrote down her parents’ address.
Sister Liu looked at the address and asked, “Your in-laws live here?”
“Didn’t I tell you before? I’m only temporarily staying with my in-laws.”
“Your parents already know about your excellence; your in-laws should know too. Don’t worry, I’ll explain to the union people that you’re temporarily staying with your in-laws. No one will gossip about your housing exchange.”
Fei Ni naturally couldn’t stop Sister Liu from visiting her in-laws’ home.
On Saturday evening, Fang Muyang again didn’t come home for dinner; only Fei Ni and her in-laws were at the table.
Someone had given Old Fang’s friend a Yunnan ham, and the friend had cut it up to share. Old Fang received a portion, and he had Auntie Yang divide it into two parts—one for themselves and one for their in-laws.
During the meal, Old Fang sighed, “Why has Muyang been working overtime so much lately?”
Fei Ni also felt the frequent overtime wasn’t good. She noticed that when Fang Muyang came home after overtime, he would still cook noodles as a late-night snack, suggesting that overtime must be quite tiring. With the manuscripts still unfinished, she couldn’t ask her father-in-law when he might find a job comparable to the pictorial position, so she could only remain silent.
As the meal drew to a close, Old Fang turned on the television to watch the news. Fang Muyang had obtained the TV ticket, but Old Fang had paid for the television. Since getting the TV, Old Fang would sit punctually in front of it to watch the news at the scheduled time.
Before the formal news broadcast began, Fei Ni told her in-laws about the union’s planned home visit.
Old Fang expressed his usual welcome, and Teacher Mu asked, “Do we need to prepare a meal?”
Fei Ni hurriedly said, “No need, they’ll just stay briefly.”
Fang Muyang didn’t return home until ten o’clock. When Fei Ni saw him return, she gave a slight nod and went to the kitchen, where she diced the leftover ham from dinner, peeled some peas, and started making fried rice. Fang Muyang followed her into the kitchen, maintaining his usual discretion outside the bedroom. He didn’t make physical contact with Fei Ni but pulled up a chair in the dining area to watch her cook.
“How did I get so lucky today? You’re personally cooking for me?”
“Who said this is for you?”
“You’ve been eating so lightly lately, how could you handle this? I thought you were going vegetarian. I’d like you to eat more meat.”
A double entendre.
“Stop joking around. Why have you been so busy lately?”
“Why don’t you guess?”
“I don’t feel like guessing.” Fei Ni served the fried rice, placed it in front of Fang Muyang, and got him a spoon. “Hurry up and eat.”
Fang Muyang scooped up some rice and held it to Fei Ni’s lips. “Try your cooking. I’ve never had better-fried rice.”
Fei Ni said, “The ham is quite good.”
Taking advantage of her speaking, Fang Muyang put the fried rice in Fei Ni’s mouth. “You’re too modest.”
“How annoying!” Fei Ni swatted Fang Muyang’s hand. “I just brushed my teeth.” Though she had to admit her fried rice was indeed better than usual.
“To make up for it, I’ll help you brush them again later.”
“Just hurry up and eat.” Fei Ni poured Fang Muyang a glass of water, placed it in front of him, and started to leave.
“Rushing off to organize the old man’s manuscripts again? Are they that attractive to you?”
“Didn’t you say Dad’s writing was interesting too?”
Fang Muyang smiled, “The more interesting something is, the more it should be savored slowly. Being in such a rush will only spoil the enjoyment.”
Old Fang was about to enter the dining area for water, with one foot barely in the door, when he heard his wayward son and daughter-in-law’s conversation. He hadn’t expected that his son, despite lacking academic sophistication, could appreciate the value of his scholarship. Before he could reflect on this, he heard his son expressing dissatisfaction about his daughter-in-law organizing his manuscripts. He hadn’t anticipated that his manuscripts’ strong appeal would cause conflict between his son and daughter-in-law. As the manuscripts’ author, perhaps he should mediate. But entering abruptly would make it seem like he had been eavesdropping on his son’s conversation, so he retreated to his study without entering, closing the door very quietly, as if afraid others would know he had come out.
This debate about the manuscripts didn’t continue into the bedroom.
To ensure Fei Ni could bathe in their future home, Fang Muyang had spent almost all his money. He bought a second-hand small boiler and built a small bath for Fei Ni. The studio wasn’t renovated at all yet; the landlord had allowed him to install a skylight as long as he restored the house to its original state when they left. He planned to withdraw some money from Fei Ni for the studio renovation. Fang Muyang had his reasons for this renovation order—if he renovated the studio first, Fei Ni would say bathing at the factory was fine and there was no need to spend money on a boiler. But if he installed the boiler without renovating the studio, Fei Ni would give him money whether she wanted to or not. Fei Ni cared far less about living comforts than about career, whether his career or her own.
The renovation work had tired Fang Muyang too, but unlike Fei Ni, who wanted to sleep when tired, he wanted to do something to relax.
At eleven o’clock, Fei Ni was still organizing manuscripts.
“Didn’t we agree you’d go to bed before eleven today?”
Fei Ni knew Fang Muyang’s implications. Instead of answering directly, she said, “Tomorrow, the factory union is coming to our home for a visit.”
“That’s fine, do you need me to stay home with you to receive them?”
“Do you know why they’re coming to visit?”
“Because you’re outstanding, of course.”
“That’s not the reason at all.”
Fang Muyang smiled, “Then why?”
Fei Ni’s lips opened and closed before finally voicing her suspicion: “My coworkers suspect you’ve been beating me.”
It wasn’t just Sister Liu who suspected she had been in a conflict with Fang Muyang and been beaten, otherwise, the union wouldn’t especially come to visit her home. She couldn’t strip off her clothes to prove her innocence, nor did she want to—or could she—prove it this way, because there were indeed other marks on her body.