Ази Хелл - Глава 20
He Fangmei thought for a long time and then shook her head:
"What good things could possibly come of me?"
Sister Li whispered in her ear:
“One of the traffic police officers at your brother-in-law’s workplace got divorced! It’s been almost a year since then. If he hadn’t come over for drinks yesterday, I wouldn’t have known!”
He Fangmei chuckled. What did someone else's divorce have to do with her?
He's a little older than you, thirty-six this year. Don't let his age fool you, he's a good person, an honest man, just a little short-tempered sometimes.
Seeing that He Fangmei remained silent, Sister Li nudged her again:
"How old are you this year?"
“Me?” He Fangmei was taken aback. “I’m twenty-eight this year.”
"So young and beautiful, wouldn't it be a waste for them to live alone? Guess why they divorced?"
Seeing that she didn't react, Sister Li said again:
"Because the man often works holidays and night shifts, the woman is afraid of being alone, and the couple always argues. They eventually got divorced. Do you think traffic police officers can avoid working shifts? Your brother-in-law often works shifts. If it were time to divorce, I would have divorced him several times over!"
"What's wrong with being on duty?"
"There's a chance! If you're talking like this, then you two are destined to be together. Want to meet? It doesn't matter if it works out or not, just meet and broaden your horizons."
"Us? We're complete strangers..."
"So what! It doesn't matter if it works out or not, let's get together for a meal, my treat! Let's get to know each other, build up our feelings, and then talk about marriage."
He Fangmei hurriedly waved her hand:
"No rush! Let me think about it first!"
"That's fine then. I'll hear your answer tomorrow. Right now, he has to wait for us to choose first. Let me tell you, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. These days, good men are rare, outstanding men are even rarer, and men who know how to love and cherish you are even rarer. Don't regret it when he falls into the hands of another woman!"
Story: Life is short, and youth is even shorter.
After graduating from junior high school, he stayed at home for two years with nothing to do. Just then, the army was recruiting, and both his mother and he thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so they quickly signed up! His mother accompanied him from the registration to the physical examination, but she always stood far away.
First came the political background check, then the physical exam—thank goodness, he passed both! He put on the green military uniform, carried the green backpack, and wore the big red flower. His mother laughed through her tears; her son had grown up! As long as he entered the People's Liberation Army, even if he returned from military service in three to five years, he would have made great progress and achieved much. That night, both his parents got drunk, still laughing foolishly, happy that their precious son's luck had finally turned around.
He spent about twenty days in recruit camp, busy with training and studies, so busy that he forgot about school days, forgot about the unpleasantness there, and forgot about those classmates who bullied him (who are they now? When I get my leave to visit my family, I'll definitely go back to school in my uniform!).
The new life in the military camp filled him with confidence for his future.
The new recruits began to be assigned to veteran companies, and many already knew where they were going.
When the instructor talked to him, he was so excited that his face turned red and he was rubbing the hem of his uniform. As soon as he was assigned to a company, he would wear red collar tabs and red cap badges and become a real People's Liberation Army soldier. At that time, he would definitely take a good picture and send it back to his mother to make the whole family happy and also to let the neighbors see what it was like.
The instructor stared at him for a long time without saying a word.
He laughed, but it was an unnatural laugh. Did the instructor mean he wanted him to feed the pigs if he didn't say anything? He had heard other new recruits say that they could do anything but feed pigs.
"How can I put it? You have to go back to where you came from, you have to go back to your hometown."
The instructor is hilarious! I traveled all this way by train, and the veterans' company I'm going to is right on my doorstep? No way! He smiled at the instructor, stood up respectfully, and waited patiently for the result.
"It seems so. Someone wrote a letter to the military, exposing some problems with your family, and you underwent a new political review, which resulted in you failing..."
The instructor must have said many words of comfort and encouragement, but he couldn't hear them because his ears had been deafened by the loud bang. All he could hear in his mind were the jeers and mockery that made him feel humiliated and ashamed. The powerful laughter and mockery chilled him to the bone. In broad daylight, he had fallen back into his childhood nightmare, falling from the sky to the ground, falling and falling, falling with heart-wrenching pain.
He knelt down before the instructor, tearfully begging him to spare his life and repay the instructor by being reborn as a cow or a horse in his next life.
Politics is sacred and supreme; those who are not politically pure cannot remain in universities that serve politics.
The recruit company didn't dare let him go home alone, so they specially sent two veterans to escort him back and hand him over to the city's armed forces department.
That night, the husband and mother both got drunk again, and even in their drunkenness, they were still laughing foolishly, laughing at their silly son who was always unlucky.
There's always a way out. Later, when there was a job opening, his mother gritted her teeth and bribed someone, and he was hired by a semiconductor electron tube factory. When he became a worker, the working class no longer led everything; he could only support himself under the factory manager's leadership. Fortunately, although the salary was low, he could still make ends meet.
He had only been in the factory for a few days when he became an apprentice. After several months of mentorship, his apprentice said:
"This child is thin and small, quiet and unassuming, as docile as a little girl!"
Within a few days, the workers all started calling him "Girl".
The factory director, a man of rich experience and combat skills during the Cultural Revolution, slammed his fist on the table and said after hearing the reports from the production and security chiefs that day:
"You're all utterly incompetent! You can't even handle a petty theft, what kind of section chiefs are you?"
The two section chiefs looked at each other, not daring to utter a word. Now that the Revolutionary Committee was gone, the factory director had the final say. Whoever he said was a section chief, and whoever he said was incompetent had to step aside.
The factory manager pointed at the head of the security department and said:
"Starting from the end of today's workday, remove the security guards at the main gate, and stop searching and checking people. Let them come and go as they please!"
The head of security thought to himself, "Is the factory manager mocking me?"
"Don't worry, factory manager. Starting today, I'll be with the security guards to conduct body searches every evening after get off work. We'll definitely increase the intensity of the checks to ensure..."
The factory manager slammed his fist on the table:
"Are you a blockhead? Can't you understand me? I told you to retreat, all of you! Leave them alone! Do you understand?"
The head of security was completely bewildered, neither daring to explain nor admitting he didn't understand.
Workers lined up at the gate after get off work that evening, but although the gate was wide open, no one dared to leave. Later, the mailroom staff had to call the security chief for instructions. The chief told them to consult the factory office, who in turn told them to consult the factory manager. The factory manager said: