Chapter 89
◎Harassment from a Senior◎
Tangtang was wearing a silver gingko hairpin when she went out today. When she returned to the dormitory, she realized that the gingko decoration stuck to the hairpin had fallen off the black clip at some point. She searched the dormitory but couldn’t find it.
Tangtang was a little disappointed but didn’t think too much about it. She stood in front of the mirror and re-braided her somewhat loose braids, then slung her cloth bag over her shoulder and planned to go to the canteen for dinner first, and then to the library after eating.
It was already past dinnertime, and there were not many people in the canteen. The vegetable basins in front of the student window only had some leftover soup. There were still a few white flour steamed buns left in the bun basket. Tangtang ordered two white flour steamed buns. There was still a little seaweed and egg drop soup left in the large bucket of free soup. She ladled a bowl of soup and found a quiet corner to sit down.
Although there were no dishes, the steamed buns were a good thing made from white flour. Their family’s conditions had only improved in the past two years, and they had only been able to eat white flour steamed buns every day. Tangtang broke the steamed bun into small pieces and put them in her mouth, then took a sip of the seaweed and egg drop soup to swallow the food in her mouth.
A young girl in a red dress sat down opposite her.
A sweet and charming smile appeared on Lu Youxin’s face. “Classmate Su, what a coincidence. We meet again.”
“The cleaning lady at home found it on the floor. She was going to throw it away as trash, but I guessed it was yours, so I had her keep it.” As she spoke, she took something out of her small handbag. The two fingers were holding the gingko decoration that had fallen from Tangtang’s hairpin. The shiny silver nail polish was deliberately waved in front of her.
“You bought this at a street stall in front of the City God Temple, right? Let me guess how much it costs. Fifteen cents? Twenty cents? But it’s true, for a country girl like you to have this to wear is considered decent.”
As she spoke, her fingertips loosened, and the gingko decoration fell into Tangtang’s soup bowl with a plop. The greasy soup stained the back of Tangtang’s hand.
Lu Youxin pouted. “Oh my, I’m so sorry!”
When Tangtang looked up, she happened to see a flash of mockery in her eyes.
She wiped the soup from her hand and didn’t look at the gingko decoration that had been soaked in the soup bowl. She said seriously, “Classmate Lu, what do you need from me?”
“I’ve heard of you. Your family’s conditions are probably not very good, right? Your home is in a mountain gully in the countryside. Your father is a small cadre in the commune, and your mother is a farmer who faces the loess and with her back to the sky. To be able to get into Capital University, your ancestral grave must be emitting green smoke, right?”
Lu Youxin leaned forward, and the smell of perfume mixed with a sense of superiority hit her face. “I’ve seen many people like you. Your eyes are always looking up, hoping to climb up to someone with power to get some substantial benefits for yourself. It’s a pity that my grandfather has long since retired. Even if you can coax the old man into a smile, you won’t get any benefits.”
Lu Youxin blinked. “I am the master of my house. I don’t welcome you. The threshold of my house is not something that a person who steps in with mud on their feet can cross. Don’t come to my house anymore in the future, so that the cleaning lady doesn’t have to specially clean up the dirt you bring in when she’s sweeping the floor. It’s not good if you dirty my house.”
“Do you know? You have a smell of the mountain gully on you. Even if you wash it ten or eight times, that earthy smell can’t be washed away.”
As Lu Youxin spoke, she suddenly caught a glimpse of the light purple watch on Tangtang’s wrist. It was inlaid with a few small diamonds, looking delicate and elegant, extremely beautiful. Lu Youxin thought of a certain possibility, and a dark look appeared in her eyes. She bit her lip hard, suppressing the jealousy in her heart.
Such a good watch, Su Xintang couldn’t afford it with her conditions. It could only have been a gift from someone else.
The person who had given her the watch, unsurprisingly, was Zhou Shunian.
Why, why are all the good things hers, Su Xintang’s? And she, Lu Youxin, could only be a stepping stone for her?! She wouldn’t. She would hold on to all of this tightly. Whether it was a comfortable life, a superior and decent family background, the envious eyes of others, or the praise of her elders, all of this should be hers. She would hold on to all of it, and no one could take it away!
A clod of earth from a mountain gully, what right did she have to snatch these things that should have belonged to her?
The sweet voice that Lu Youxin had deliberately squeezed out fell on her ears like silver needles piercing her ears. Tangtang lowered her eyes and looked at the gingko decoration soaked in the cloudy soup bowl, stunned for a long while.
She had never thought that her act of going to see Old Mr. Lu would be seen by others as an attempt to gain some benefit.
When she looked up, her voice trembled. “You’ve misunderstood. I went to see Grandpa Lu, not for any benefit.”
“Although my parents are ordinary people, we live with integrity. I was admitted to Capital University, not by cheating my way in, but by my own hard work.”
Tangtang stood up. “I don’t care if your family’s threshold is high or not. When I interact with people, I don’t look at their social status.”
She didn’t look at Lu Youxin’s face again and carried the empty bowl to the sink.
She took the small gingko decoration out of the soup bowl, turned on the tap, and the cool water rushed over it, washing away the greasy stains.
Tangtang took a long breath and silently told herself that she didn’t need to listen to those dirty words.
…
When Lu Youxin came out of the canteen, a light drizzle began to fall. She stomped her foot in annoyance, held her handbag over her head, and ran out.
In her haste to avoid the rain, she didn’t pay attention to the obstacle at her feet. She was tripped by a tree branch and was about to fall to the ground. Fortunately, a hand wrapped around her waist, preventing her from falling in a sorry state.
A man’s face came into her sight. Si Junxiang’s face was full of concern. “Are you okay?”
Lu Youxin recognized this person. He was a worker-peasant-soldier student admitted to Capital University in the class of ’76. He was also in the research and development group. Because he was in a higher grade, he had been appointed as the group leader. He was twenty-eight this year. He looked gentle and refined on the outside, but he couldn’t hide the greasy, rustic air in his bones. She looked at the arm he had wrapped around her and frowned in disgust.
She snorted coquettishly. “Aren’t you going to let go?!”
“Oh, oh, I’m sorry.” Si Junxiang reluctantly let go of his hand.
He was graduating in June of this year. As a worker-peasant-soldier student who had “come from the commune and would return to the commune,” he would unsurprisingly be assigned back to his hometown. But having seen the prosperity of the capital, who would want to go back to the poor and backward Loess Plateau?
Si Junxiang wanted to fight for a chance to stay at the school and teach, so he had fought to get into Professor Ruan’s research and development group. But Professor Ruan had always been indifferent to him. He had originally thought that there was no hope of staying at the school, but Lu Youxin’s appearance had given him a new turning point.
He had heard that this young lady’s grandfather was a provincial-level leader before he retired. Although he had retired, his past connections must still be there. Her father was a military officer, and her mother was a university professor. A true proud daughter of heaven. If he could latch onto her, would he still have to worry about not being able to stay at the school and teach?
Lu Youxin stomped her foot and curled her lip in disgust. She originally didn’t want to give Si Junxiang a single glance, but her eyes turned, and a good idea appeared in her mind.
…
In the research and development group’s laboratory, Tangtang rubbed her sore shoulders and put a stack of cleaned lab equipment into a storage box. “Senior, I’ve finished washing the equipment you asked me to wash.”
Si Junxiang was sitting on a chair with his legs crossed, concentrating on filing his nails, as if he hadn’t heard her.
Tangtang could only repeat it again. “Senior, the lab equipment has been washed.”
“Senior.”
Si Junxiang looked as if he had just heard her. He blew on the nail filings he had filed and casually pointed to a corner. “Oh, put it there.”
“There’s another box here. You can wash it along the way.”
Tangtang looked at the bottles and jars in the storage box. There was still some residual liquid on them. The few test tubes at the bottom were even worse, with a circle of grayish mucus sticking to the inner wall. It would take at least an hour to wash this pile clean. She suppressed the urge to flip out and asked in a good-natured voice, “Senior, shouldn’t the beakers, test tubes, measuring cylinders, volumetric flasks, and pipettes that are usually used for experiments be washed immediately after use? Why are there so many unwashed pieces of equipment piled up?”
“You weren’t here at the last meeting. The lab rules have changed. From now on, a special person has to be arranged to wash these lab equipment and utensils every day. By the way, at the last research group meeting, you had a conflict with your professional courses and didn’t come. Next Sunday, the research and development group is going to Jiexicun for a field trip. Remember to prepare in advance after you go back.” After Si Junxiang finished speaking, he picked up the nail file again and started to file his nails. The rustling sound of the file scraping against the nail cap was particularly harsh in the quiet laboratory.
Tangtang looked at Si Junxiang, who was filing his nails, and took a deep breath. She picked up the storage box of equipment and stood by the sink to start washing.
Time passed minute by minute. Tangtang had come over in a hurry after class and hadn’t even had time to eat. She pressed her sore and numb shoulders from maintaining one posture for a long time, moved her body slightly, and then picked up a dirty test tube and started to wash it.
“Senior, I’ve finished washing them all.”
“You’ve finished them all?” Si Junxiang glanced at the equipment in the storage box and finally stopped filing his nails. He took out two pages of paper from a drawer. “This is an application for party membership. You can help me write two copies. Remember to have no mistakes and to be neat and tidy.”
Tangtang looked at the five words “Application for Party Membership” on the title page of the white paper. She pushed it back on the table. “Senior, I can’t help you with this. This is not part of my duties.”
“What do you mean? What’s wrong with having you write two applications? Isn’t the group leader’s order part of your duties as a group member?!”
Si Junxiang slammed the paper on the table with a slap, the force so great that it seemed as if it would crack the table. “Su Xintang, don’t forget your own status. I’m doing you a favor by asking you to help! It’s just writing an application, not asking you to go to the sky and pick the moon. Or do you think that helping the group leader with a small thing that is within your ability is a grievance to you, a ‘top student’ who got in through the college entrance examination?”
Si Junxiang bit down on the last few words particularly hard. He had had to work day and night to earn work points and rush to do the hardest and most tiring work to get the recommendation from the commune and be admitted to Capital University. But then, with a click, the college entrance examination was restored, and the value of a worker-peasant-soldier university student was greatly discounted. How could he swallow this anger willingly?
“Don’t be ungrateful. Either you write it now, or… you don’t have to come to the laboratory tomorrow.” Si Junxiang leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs again. But this time, he didn’t touch the nail file again. His eyes were like ice-cold knives, staring straight at her face.
Tangtang clenched her hands, which were hanging by her side. When she looked up again, her expression was calm. “Senior, I think you’ve misunderstood. I joined the research and development group. The person who recruited me was Professor Ruan, so you have no right to decide whether I stay or leave. And I won’t help you write this application for party membership.”