When She Stops Being Dramatic

Chapter 105: Chapter 56: The Scorned Wife of the 1950s (56)

”I don’t know if it’s true or not,” Lin Jin said softly, nestled cozily in his arms. ”But knowing Zhu Yun’s character, she probably skims a little off the top of everything that passes through her hands, right?”

”We know what kind of person she is from how many times she’s fleeced us. Xianbing, with all that food in the cafeteria every day, do you really think she wouldn’t be tempted?”

”Sigh, what she does isn’t that important. How much can one person’s greed really amount to? I’m just worried that an appetite, once whetted, will only grow.”

”If she dares to sneak a spring onion home today, she’ll dare to haul a whole pig home tomorrow.”

”And on top of that, we set her up with a house outside the factory. What if she gets ideas, hides a few things, and sells them on the black market? Food is priceless right now. The money would come rolling in, wouldn’t it?”

”Someone saw her, big belly and all, still running to the factory warehouse every single week without fail...”

”Logically, now that she’s married to Mr. Chu, her business should be her own, for better or worse. We shouldn’t have to worry about it. The problem is, we were the ones who brought her in. Could this affect your job?”

Lin Jin changed the subject, tracing circles on his chest with a worried hand. ”Xianbing, I was just thinking... if the rumors are true and our cafeteria has a stockpile, and some family members with big mouths spread the word, do you think... something might happen?”

Wang Xianbing caught her hand. His eyes narrowed slightly as a thousand thoughts raced through his mind.

’That woman, Zhu Yun, is incredibly greedy. The moment she catches you in a mistake, she’ll try to tear a pound of flesh from you. How could there be any peace with a rat like that in the granary?’

’Besides, Chu Shenyu has been acting suspiciously, going out at this hour for the past couple of nights.’

’Plenty of researchers and engineers work so hard they forget to eat or sleep, but that’s not something you’d ever see from Chu Shenyu, who’s always coasted on his talent and the admiration of others. Besides, the logistics and security departments are responsible for night duty.’

’Even if there were a new project at the factory, he wouldn’t need to be so secretive and sneak out at night. If it’s not something for the Engineering Department, then what could possibly be worth Mr. Chu’s trouble?’

His thoughts were a tangled mess. He mulled it over for a long time, so long that the woman in his arms fell fast asleep.

He began to unravel the threads, his thinking growing clearer. ’Could it be? Has Chu Shenyu gotten himself involved in the cafeteria’s food hoarding?’

’Food, Zhu Yun, Chu Shenyu, the Engineering Department, the Research Institute, heavy security...’ As he connected the dots, he felt like he already knew half the answer. He just had to wait until tomorrow night to confirm it!

Wang Xianbing had never planned on being an ordinary man. University was just a stepping stone. ’If this is real,’ he thought, ’and I get involved, taking another step up the ladder won’t be difficult at all.’

When Chu Shenyu arrived at the warehouse, Director Wang was in the middle of directing people to load a truck.

”Mr. Chu, you’re here!” Director Wang walked over with a smile and reported, ”That’s one thing about our factory—if you say you need vehicles, we can quietly assemble a whole motor pool at a moment’s notice. Plus, we’ve got this group of versatile young lads on loan. Every one of them is tight-lipped and works like a charm.”

”We’ve moved most of the stock from the warehouse. As you instructed, Mr. Chu, we left ten percent behind. Twenty percent of that ten percent will remain in the warehouse, and the rest is waiting for your orders.”

Chu Shenyu nodded and went to inspect the remaining goods. There was a bit of everything. It might not sound like much, but it would have taken at least ten to fifteen days to save up from the mouths of tens of thousands of employees and their families.

The amount of grain stored in the warehouse was therefore still substantial—more than enough to serve as a convincing front.

Everyone suspected the factory had a stockpile of grain, but no one had any real idea just how much there was.

He had, after all, seen his wife demonstrate on the spot how to stretch one portion of rice into two, or even three, bowls. You could say that if the two of them had a bit of help, they could brazenly pocket thirty percent of the grain rations and no one would ever notice.

That was why the factory workers ate their fill and ate well every day. When people at other work units were already reduced to drinking watery porridge, they could still gnaw on steamed buns.

And while they grumbled amongst themselves that the factory must have a stockpile, they just assumed it was because the factory had its own farm, which seemed perfectly reasonable.

Still, with so many people at the factory, how long could any stockpile really last?

They were uneasy. Every time they got their meals, they no longer ate with abandon like they used to. They were terrified the factory would end up like the other work units, with food rations gradually shrinking, or even cutting out a meal entirely.

The family members had all lived through hard times and knew plenty of ways to preserve food: drying it, grinding it into flour, even refusing to throw away bones and fish skeletons. The back hills had been picked clean time and again, the river had been fished until not a single shrimp was left, and even the birds had vanished from the trees...