Chapter 177: I’ll See Who Dares To Talk About Qiao Ge
Lu Qiaoge stood in the corridor and said softly, “Second Aunt Lin, I’ll just talk to Deputy Director Huang this afternoon.”
Lu Qiaoge then took Fan Xiaoyu to the water room, which was the bathroom, to wash up.
After packing up, Lu Qiaoge took her to the state-run restaurant to eat.
One bowl of egg noodles each.
Fan Xiaoyu was embarrassed and didn’t know what to say. Lu Qiaoge told her not to feel burdened, as the expenses would be reimbursed by the work unit.
Fan Xiaoyu was half-believing, but Lu Qiaoge was very good at dispelling the other’s concerns, telling her to eat freely without worrying about owing favors. She said that she would have the ability one day, and on that day she could help others in return for the organization’s help.
These words made Fan Xiaoyu’s eyes light up at once.
Yes, when she had the ability, she could also help people like Lu Qiaoge.
She ate the noodles with peace of mind, no longer fearful, as long as she was willing to make an effort, there would always be a day to repay.
Lu Qiaoge arranged for her in the hospital ward and returned to the work unit. By then it was already time to go to work.
She needed to report this matter to Director Hu and Deputy Director Huang, mainly to Aunt Huang the deputy director, because it was her responsibility.
Just as Lu Qiaoge thought, her actions at the time were very correct and she received praise from both.
As for how to arrange things afterward, there was still some difficulty.
The military factory had staff dormitories, but those were for factory area workers.
Not to mention that Fan Xiaoyu was a jobless educated youth returning to the city, even a neighborhood committee cadre like Lu Qiaoge had no qualification to live there.
So the staff dormitory was not to be considered.
No wonder many cadres were unwilling to get involved. When you didn’t manage anything, at most they would say you were mediocre and muddling through, but if you really got involved, there would be many troubles afterward.
Just like with Fan Xiaoyu. If Lu Qiaoge hadn’t gotten involved, she would now be doing whatever she was supposed to do and wouldn’t even be unable to go home for lunch.
But now that she had gotten involved, she had to consider many factors, such as would the Fan family let Fan Xiaoyu go back? If not, where should she go after Chen Gou was discharged?
After all, she wasn’t married and had no partner. Could a single young woman go rent a house?
She had no job, which meant no income, which meant she couldn’t survive.
This was the consequence of reaching out to help.
Of course, the two directors and Lu Qiaoge would not think this way.
Sister Hua said to Sister Qiao, “Qiao Ge is still too young. For something like this, even if you see it, there’s no need to take the person away. Just give criticism and education to the Old Fan family people, let them know it’s wrong, then Qiao Ge can go do what she was supposed to do. Why worry about it? Sometimes the more you do, the more mistakes you make. Look at that one…”
Sister Hua looked meaningfully at Cadre Cao sitting next to the file cabinet.
Sister Qiao glanced once and then withdrew her gaze. This person was a relative of the old factory director and had been arranged into the neighborhood committee, but she didn’t like to handle things, avoiding them whenever possible and being lazy whenever she could.
She couldn’t be rated as advanced, but she also didn’t make mistakes.
There was no way to deal with someone like that.
Sister Qiao also felt that Qiao Ge was a bit foolish, always rushing forward proactively.
After a few breaths, Sister Qiao suddenly said with a dim expression, “If… Xiu Xiu had met Lu Qiaoge, maybe she wouldn’t have died.”
Sister Hua’s face changed at once.
After Lu Qiaoge left, Old Huang also sighed to Old Hu, “What Qiao Ge did was right. No matter what others say, we two must support her.”
Old Hu nodded. “Don’t worry, I’m cultivating her as a successor.”
Huang Juan looked out the window and suddenly said, “Do you still remember Xiu Xiu?”
Old Hu’s face darkened.
Of course he remembered. That year he and Old Huang had just been transferred to the neighborhood committee to carry out work.
At that time, they weren’t familiar with anything, just like being forced onto the shelf like ducks.
There were no buildings yet, just a large area of bungalows. The neighborhood committee was just a few tents set up as an office.
Every day all sorts of things happened, just like now.
Xiu Xiu’s family situation was very similar to Fan Xiaoyu’s.
Her parents were both factory workers, and her two older brothers got married one after another. After Xiu Xiu’s sister-in-law gave birth to the Zhou family’s eldest grandson, she felt she could take charge.
She decided to marry Xiu Xiu to a foolish person and accepted a gold bracelet from the other side.
Xiu Xiu disagreed, but everyone in the family pressured her, including her biological parents.
Huang Juan and Sister Hua went together to handle the matter. After criticizing the Zhou family people’s behavior, they gently persuaded the crying Xiu Xiu who didn’t want to go back and sent her into her mother’s hands.
The thinking at the time was, no matter what, this was a family.
But who could have thought that her mother felt the daughter was grown up and would marry sooner or later, that a daughter was a useless money-losing good, and that the Zhou family had raised her for over ten years so she should give back.
Besides, what was wrong with a foolish person? A foolish person was good—not violent, could take charge right away upon entering the door, and after the new year give birth to a big fat boy. Wouldn’t good days come then?
So that very night, they drugged Xiu Xiu unconscious and sent her to the foolish person’s home.
The foolish person’s home was in the neighboring county town. Huang Juan and Sister Hua heard about it three days later because the foolish person’s family came to report the death—Xiu Xiu was dead, beaten to death alive by the foolish person.
That family wasn’t afraid but instead went to the Zhou family to demand the gold bracelet back. That’s how they found out Xiu Xiu was gone on the night of her wedding.
Only seventeen years old, such a beautiful flower hadn’t even had time to bloom before her own relatives sent her into hell.
This matter had always made Huang Juan and Sister Hua feel guilty.
But many times, facing such phenomena and deeply rooted ideas, they also felt powerless.
Huang Juan wiped away a tear and said to Old Hu, “We can’t control talking behind people’s backs. I want to see who dares say it to Qiao Ge’s face?”
Old Hu said, “Earlier Qiao Ge said she would handle Fan Xiaoyu’s matter, but we can’t just watch from the side. You go to the Fan family—scold if you need to scold, criticize if you need to criticize. If they don’t listen to advice, report it to the Fan family brothers’ work units. I’ll go to the grain bureau then to the factory department to ask what procedures are needed to restart the night school…”
The two directors went off to handle their own tasks. Lu Qiaoge didn’t know the content of their conversation. What she was thinking about now was Fan Xiaoyu’s arrangement.
Sister Hua called out to Lu Qiaoge and said mildly, “Qiao Ge, how do you plan to arrange Fan Xiaoyu?”
Lu Qiaoge was sitting at her own desk, flipping through the notes she had recorded.
The weather was hot, and the little animals didn’t run out either, basically all hiding in Lu Qiaoge’s home enjoying the cool through breeze.
Lu Qiaoge finally had a moment of quiet.
She had already thought of a method.
“Sister Hua, Chen Gou still needs half a month to be discharged. As long as Fan Xiaoyu agrees, she has a place to stay for these half months. Also, the place where Fan Xiaoyu went to insert was in the south, where a big granny with good craftsmanship taught her bamboo weaving.
She said her woven pen holders had once caught the eye of a comrade responsible for foreign trade at the exhibition fair organized by the county last year. Unfortunately, for some reason it didn’t work out later, but as long as she has this craftsmanship, joining the weaving group won’t be a problem. As for a place to live, we’ll talk about it after half a month.”
Lu Qiaoge analyzed that this pen holder had probably been snatched by someone else.
But it was also possible there was no sales channel and it couldn’t be exchanged for foreign exchange.
Sister Hua smiled. “Fan Xiaoyu actually knows bamboo weaving? That’s great. She’s just like homeless now. If she could have a job, I don’t know how happy she would be.”
