Humming a tune while tidying up her things, Liu Xiaojie heard a knock at the door. Irritated, she called out, “Who is it?” as she walked over and pulled it open. To her surprise, a large crowd of people stood outside, and at the front was none other than General Yue himself, holding a little girl in his arms who was softly sobbing.
She immediately recognized Yaya as the little girl who had hit her with a snowball earlier. And standing right next to Yue Guohuai was Huo Jiusi—the boy who had given her the money.
Yue Guohuai’s expression was grim, and everyone behind him looked equally stern. Even someone as thick-skinned as Liu Xiaojie could sense that something was very wrong.
She quickly forced a smile and greeted the crowd, but before she could finish, her supervisor cut her off anxiously and asked, “Xiaojie, did you yell at these two kids and demand a hundred yuan from them?”
“Boss, I didn’t ask for it—he offered it to me! And I didn’t scold them. They hit me, so I just said a few words to them, that’s all.”
Liu Xiaojie sounded rather aggrieved. “I was just walking along, minding my own business, when a snowball hit me square in the back. I’d just washed this uniform yesterday, and now it’s all dirty.”
Her supervisor didn’t know what to say to her. Then Yue Guohuai spoke up in a cold, measured tone: “Comrade, Yaya is my granddaughter. She hit you, and I apologize on her behalf.”
“General Yue, I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare.” Liu Xiaojie couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes.
“Liu Xiaojie, you dare plenty, from what I can see.”
Her supervisor snapped at her, unable to hold back any longer. “You’ve got some nerve, you know that? Not only do you pick on children this young, but you actually extort money from them too?”
“Director, I told you—I didn’t ask for it! He gave it to me willingly!” Liu Xiaojie stomped her foot and pointed at Huo Jiusi. “Hey, you! Say something! You promised you wouldn’t tell your parents! Breaking your word like that—careful, you might not grow tall!”
“I only said that because I was afraid you’d hit me and Yaya.”
Huo Jiusi shrank back behind Yue Guohuai. “Grandpa Yue, she was even meaner than this a moment ago.”
“He offered to give me fifty yuan to cover the damage to my clothes, but I asked for a hundred.”
Yue Guohuai trusted that Huo Jiusi wouldn’t exaggerate or lie. His piercing eyes fixed on Liu Xiaojie. “Comrade, is that true?”
Liu Xiaojie tried to defend herself: “I never said I was going to hit them!”
She only denied wanting to strike the children—but she didn’t deny taking the money. That was as good as a confession.
“Liu Xiaojie, you’re unbelievable! That uniform on your back was issued to you by the organization, and you still had the gall to ask for money!”
Her supervisor waved his hand dismissively. “Take it off right now. You don’t deserve to wear it.”
“Boss, I didn’t do anything wrong! Why should I? She hit me!”
Liu Xiaojie pointed at Yaya, then swung her finger toward Huo Jiusi. “And the money—he gave it to me of his own free will. He offered fifty, I asked for a hundred. What’s wrong with that?”
“If he didn’t want to give it, he could have just said no! Since he did give it, that means he did so willingly—I didn’t force him!”
She spoke with complete conviction. “Just because this little girl is General Yue’s granddaughter doesn’t mean he gets to punish me, right?”
“Besides, just because they’re kids doesn’t mean they’re always in the right! This is a military camp—is this even a place for them? They shouldn’t be playing here in the first place!”
“The comrade has a point. I was wrong, and I should reflect on this.”
With that, Yue Guohuai turned and left, holding Yaya in his arms. The others followed, leaving only Liu Xiaojie’s supervisor behind, who shook his head at her.
This Liu Xiaojie was finished.
“Grandpa, Yaya caused trouble.” Yaya had stopped crying earlier, but hearing Liu Xiaojie speak to her grandfather like that broke her heart, and the tears started flowing again.
“Sweetheart didn’t cause any trouble.”
Yue Guohuai kissed Yaya’s little cheek and gently wiped her tears with a handkerchief. “Don’t cry, sweetie. It’s Grandpa’s fault.”
“Grandpa, does this mean Yaya can’t come to work with you anymore?”
Yue Guohuai nodded regretfully. “This is where I work, so I really can’t just bring you along whenever I want.”
“That’s okay. Yaya will wait for Grandpa at home.”
Yaya nuzzled against his cheek. “When Grandpa’s resting at home, Yaya will spend lots of time with him.”
The people nearby listened, their hearts both moved by how well-behaved Yaya was at such a young age, and also filled with a pang of sadness.
But more than that, they felt angry. This meant that from now on, no one could bring their children to work anymore.
But what about emergencies at home, or when there was no one to look after the kids? What were they supposed to do?
So they all pinned the blame squarely on Liu Xiaojie.
Yue Guohuai never brought it up again, but Liu Xiaojie’s days from then on were anything but easy.
Because her “legendary” feat had spread throughout the entire military district.
She’d originally hoped to marry into a compound family, but everyone in those circles had already heard about how she’d dared to talk back to General Yue and extort money from Old Man Huo’s grandson.
With that kind of character, what family would ever want her as a daughter-in-law?
And because of her, no one dared bring their kids to work anymore—plus Yue Guohuai had even made a public apology at a general assembly over the incident.
Pretty much every household had children. So at this point, calling Liu Xiaojie “public enemy number one” wouldn’t have been an exaggeration.
It took Liu Xiaojie a while to realize all of this, but by then it was too late. And her work life wasn’t going well either.
People found subtle ways to make things difficult for her. Her supervisor didn’t like her, and her colleagues kept their distance and refused to interact with her.
Whenever someone had a celebration or a get-together, she was never invited.
She also had high standards and was fixated on marrying up. She did come across a few decent prospects, but she dismissed them because they didn’t meet her requirements at the moment.
Bit by bit, she let her best years slip away. In the end, she married a divorced man—a man who couldn’t hold down a job, had a terrible temper, and tended to get violent when drunk.
When the massive military downsizing took place, Liu Xiaojie’s name was on the very first list.
After returning to civilian life, her personality didn’t mellow out—in fact, it only got worse.
But all of that is a story for another time.
Jiangning.
Time flew by, and soon it was the end of January in the second year. Ye Zhiqiu and the others were approaching the end of their advanced training.
The final evaluation would take place on the day of Lichun (the Beginning of Spring), after which the candidates selected to perform in the dance drama would be confirmed.
After the New Year, formal rehearsals would begin in March, followed by performances in June—one show in Jiangning and one in the national capital—before they’d travel abroad for a tour spanning more than a dozen countries.
Ye Zhiqiu was still holding the highest score. Han Siyang was in second place, while Fan Xue and Wen Shengnan were tied for third.
Wen Shengnan’s goal wasn’t merely to participate in the dance drama—she was determined to become the undisputed lead.
She’d heard that the dance drama was adapted from one of the Four Great Classical Novels, which almost certainly meant Dream of the Red Chamber. Although all twelve golden hairpins had their moments, the roles of Baoyu and Daiyu were still the most important.
Naturally, she wanted to play Lin Daiyu. Her appearance and temperament were already quite similar to Daiyu’s, making her a perfect fit.
But Tang Xuejun favored Ye Zhiqiu, so she’d undoubtedly give the role of Daiyu to her.
She had to find a way to surpass Ye Zhiqiu and claim the top spot—so that Tang Xuejun wouldn’t be able to play favorites!
