usatvline Chapter 56 飒爽 (Sa shuang)
Chapter 56 飒爽 (Sa shuang)
During Wang Wenwen's postpartum period, only Wang Wenwen, her postpartum nanny, and the housekeeper were truly busy; everyone else could only watch helplessly. Chen Yu took on the task of feeding Wang Wenwen, helping her sit up in his arms and feeding her spoonful by spoonful, testing the temperature of each spoonful before putting it to her lips!
Wang Wenwen refused several times, but Chen Yu pretended not to hear her, so Wang Wenwen resigned herself to her fate!
Seeing how good the relationship was between the two, Wang Wenwen's parents gradually calmed down and put their worries to rest.
Zhong Xiaoqin was envious and wanted to take Chen Yu's place and feed Wang Wenwen herself, but everyone strongly objected! They told her to just take care of herself.
With the nutritious meals prepared by a professional postpartum nanny, Wang Wenwen is recovering very well. Little Youzi is also doing well; the food supply is plentiful. As any father knows, food isn't produced initially; someone needs to stimulate the food supply, and that person has to be the father. Therefore, it's only natural that Little Youzi shares some of the surplus with her father after the food is produced!
Wang Wenwen wasn't ready to be discharged yet, but Zhong Xiaoqin's fetal movements had become much more pronounced. The doctor recommended hospitalization for observation, as she had a little over two weeks left before delivery. After discussing it, the three families decided to let Zhong Xiaoqin stay in the hospital until she gave birth. They would conveniently use Wang Wenwen's room.
Fortunately, both Chen Yu and Wang Wenwen's parents were there, and Wang Wenwen was also well taken care of. Chen Yu ran back and forth between the two places every day, spending more time with Zhong Xiaoqin, who was a little nervous.
That evening, Chen Yu received a call from Gu Jia.
"Teacher Chen, I've been scammed!" Gu Jia's voice was tinged with disappointment and anger. "Teacher Chen, you're right, a person's moral character really has nothing to do with whether they have money or not!"
Chen Yu had already guessed, but he still asked Gu Jia, "What happened?"
"The tea factory has problems; many of its certificates have expired, and there are still some claims waiting to be pursued."
Is there a solution?
Gu Jia stammered, "Teacher Chen, I... I just wanted to borrow some money from you. About three million would be fine, but I can't set a repayment date! If you're willing to invest, I can give up my shares in the tea factory!"
“Okay, three million. I’ll have someone transfer it to you first. Xiaoqin is about to give birth, so don’t tell her about this!” Chen Yu accepted it readily, mainly because he didn’t want to disturb Zhong Xiaoqin’s mood.
Gu Jia didn't notice that Zhong Xiaoqin's due date was approaching, and she was so troubled by the tea factory situation that she couldn't eat or sleep. Three million wasn't a small sum, but it wasn't an unacceptable loss either!
There's no such thing as making money forever in business; it's normal to have both gains and losses.
But she'd been scammed out of three million! Scammed by Mrs. Li, a woman in her circle of admired wives! This shattered Gu Jia's worldview. Even though Gu Jia envied the world of the wealthy, where everything they did seemed right and reasonable, reality told her that Mrs. Li wasn't a good person either, and could even be described as morally corrupt. This left Gu Jia utterly disillusioned.
Gu Jia stayed at the tea factory for two days. She had originally agreed with Xu Huanshan to close the tea factory and declare it bankrupt to minimize losses. However, the village chief led a group of villagers to ask Gu Jia to visit the tea garden and production line. They kept emphasizing that their tea was good tea, all handmade, while other people's tea was machine-made and lacked soul!
Gu Jia was immediately moved and became determined to help the villagers sell their tea.
After thinking for a while, it seemed that the only way to get the tea factory up and running was to find an investor or borrow money. That's why Gu Jia made the call to Chen Yu earlier. After hanging up, Gu Jia felt a little guilty; her best friend was about to give birth, and she hadn't even thought of her!
Back in Shanghai, after settling Xu Ziyan at home, Gu Jia's first priority was to visit Zhong Xiaoqin at the hospital.
"Xiaoqin, your hospital room is very nice!"
Zhong Xiaoqin was very happy, "Gu Gu, when are you going back to Shanghai?"
"My flight was this morning. I just went to see Ziyan and then came to see you." Gu Jia didn't mention that she had forgotten Zhong Xiaoqin.
"Are you going to the tea plantation again soon?"
"I won't be going anytime soon. I'll stay at the company and make some plans. I'll ask some old friends to help me come up with a promotional strategy."
"That's great! You absolutely have to come when I give birth! You weren't there when Wenwen gave birth, and I felt like something was missing." Zhong Xiaoqin held Gu Jia's hand as if she were holding her older sister's hand.
Although Wang Wenwen and Gu Jia are also close, they are still a bit less close than Zhong Xiaoqin and Gu Jia.
Gu Jia left the hospital, checked her phone, and realized that the wives' circle was having another gathering. She decided to go and annoy them.
Entering the handmade clothing room of the wives' circle, Gu Jia began her performance: "Thank you, Mrs. Li, for digging such a huge pit for someone as insignificant as me. I'm willing to pay the price for my mistake. Every step a person takes has a price, and I'll pay mine! And you all, you will all pay your own prices in the future! Always thinking you have shortcuts and powerful backers is called a distorted value system. Like me, you will be corrected one day. The difference is that I can leave with my own name, while you all, living under your husbands' surnames, living within your husbands' value radius, trying to carve out a sense of superiority? Gathering together to show off and compare, it's truly pathetic the more glamorous you are. My name is Gu Jia, goodbye forever."
This performance was so cool and exhilarating that even Chen Yu, who was watching, was filled with excitement!
That's right, Chen Yu knew that Gu Jia had returned to Shanghai, so he had been keeping an eye on her activities, just waiting to see a good show! It's a pity that Zhong Xiaoqin and Wang Wenwen were delayed because of childbirth, otherwise he would have dragged the two of them along to watch.
Gu Jia walked out of the room and saw Chen Yu as soon as she turned the corner. Her face immediately turned red. "Teacher Chen, what are you doing here?"
When she made those harsh words, it was to vent her anger. Gu Jia spoke with conviction, as if she were lecturing on profound truths, but in reality, she wasn't even sure if what she said was right! However, being seen by an acquaintance, someone she knew very well, while she was putting on this philosophical act, made Gu Jia so embarrassed that she wanted to disappear into the ground.
"Nothing much, just taking a walk. Oh, right, I'm out of soy sauce, so I'm just going to buy some!" Chen Yu was also feeling a bit guilty, not expecting Gu Jia to come out so quickly before he could even hide.
This club doesn't sell soy sauce, and Gu Jia knew Chen Yu was talking nonsense. The two guilty people left in silence and went their separate ways.
Chen Yu actually felt that the social circle of wives Gu Jia belonged to was indeed abnormal. It was a deliberately created extreme phenomenon. In some cases, the wives' circle serves as a buffer, using "wives' diplomacy" to facilitate communication of business information, preventing a complete lack of room for compromise during formal negotiations. "Wives' diplomacy" is not about wives indulging in pleasure, showing off, or comparing themselves to others; it's a mode of interaction that lies between formal and informal. Even international diplomacy has forms like "first lady diplomacy." The "wives' circle" that Gu Jia participated in clearly did not.