Back To The 80s-Chapter 523 - 515: Preparation_1

Zhao Hongmei’s voice was piercingly loud, as if she was standing right in front of someone and cursing.

Gu Xiaobei was quite surprised. What was going on? It was clear that she was yelling right outside their homes.

Zhao Hongmei kept yelling: "Did I eat or drink anything from you that you find me so offensive? You all are so mean, tripping me for no reason. Why are you all so malicious? People like you deserve to get hit by a car. Just because you are living well, can’t handle others doing well too? Shameless!"

Sitting inside the house, Gu Xiaobei furrowed his brows, feeling like she was cursing him.

As Zhao Hongmei’s curses grew more offensive, Gu Xiaobei became annoyed and stood up to leave. But he was held back by Lu Zhanguo: "Don’t go! You’ll only be playing into their hands if you do." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Gu Xiaobei was somewhat indignant, "She’s cursing right at our doorstep, how can I just endure it? I don’t understand, did I provoke her or something to have her curse so harshly outside our house? If she doesn’t explain to me today, I will shut her up."

"Although she is targeting us, she didn’t mention any names. If you go out now, aren’t you just asking for abuse? Tell me, what’s happened recently?" Lu Zhanguo asked, holding her wrist.

Gu Xiaobei sat down in frustration and replied, "Nothing happened, even when gossiping downstairs, her name didn’t come up. The only time was when Dang Hong and Tian Yuanyuan discussed work at the primary school. Dang Hong had said that if Zhao Hongmei became a teacher, she would prefer to work for the community service. I didn’t say anything, would I participate in such nonsense? And it has nothing to do with me."

Lu Zhanguo believed Gu Xiaobei. She was often very shrewd, especially in crowds, preferring to speak less or not at all. But Zhao Hongmei’s curses were out of place, it was clear someone was trying to instigate by smearing her name. He frowned and asked: "Who else was present at the time?"

Gu Xiaobei pondered and replied: "Officer Luo’s wife, Officer Wang’s wife, and two others I can’t quite recognize. I still can’t identify their families. But they weren’t present at the time. Did they say anything after I left?"

Zhao Hongmei continued hurling curses in the hallway. The residents from the floors above and below came to coax her, asking her to let it go and not disrupt the peace.

Zhao Hongmei scoffed: "Peace? What peace? They look down on us housewives because they are wealthy."

This statement was too obvious, everyone knew she was targeting Gu Xiaobei, all trying to convince her:

"Sister-in-law, please calm down, isn’t there a better way to discuss whatever the issue is?"

"Exactly, cursing out here in the hallway is just not appropriate."

"Yes, it’s difficult for the men as well if they find out."

...

When Gu Xiaobei heard everyone from upstairs and downstairs had come, she stood up and told Lu Zhanguo: "I need to go out or they will think I’m guilty."

This time, Lu Zhanguo didn’t stop her, it could be advantageous to clarify the issue in front of everyone.

Gu Xiaobei jerked the door open, looking at the people standing at the doorstep and on the stairs in surprise, she asked Zhao Hongmei: "Sister-in-law, what’s going on? Why are you cursing in broad daylight?"

Seeing Gu Xiaobei come out, Zhao Hongmei snorted coldly, her eyes filled with contempt: "Can you really not know what happened? What are you pretending for?"

Gu Xiaobei looked innocently at everyone and said: "What’s going on? I really don’t know. Why doesn’t sister-in-law speak directly? Let everyone hear, how am I pretending?"

Zhao Hongmei looked at Gu Xiaobei, sneered and said: "Did you tell others that with my level, I could only teach at primary school? You said I would ruin the children. You even said if I were a teacher, you wouldn’t send your children there. Also, didn’t you and Dang Hong say together that if I became a teacher, Dang Hong would rather work in community service?"

Gu Xiaobei sighed at these rumors, which had twisted her words. She pulled a straight face and said: "Who told you this? Call her here so we can confront each other and see if I said such things."

Zhao Hongmei folded her arms and said: "I’m not the kind of person who would betray those who gave me the information. I know you are wealthy and look down on us, but you can’t defame me like this. I heard that Dang Hong might become a primary school teacher, and they wanted me to be a school janitor. Would I have ended up as a janitor if you hadn’t meddled?"

Gu Xiaobei laughed in frustration and said: "I really don’t have that kind of influence to meddle with your work. I didn’t say it, and I don’t need to prove anything to you. If you want to naively believe whatever you hear, that’s your business. But if you continue to yell nasty things in front of my house, don’t blame me for being blunt." Saying this she turned and went into the house, slamming the door closed.

Zhao Hongmei, trembling with anger, pointed at the door and said to everyone: "You all see this? She’s scheming behind our backs and still has the gall to act so righteous."

Although everyone didn’t interact much with Gu Xiaobei regularly, they knew what kind of person Zhao Hongmei was. They coaxed her a few more times before they all went back home.

Zhao Hongmei stayed at the door cursing a few more times, until the child Erhu inside started crying. Then she finally shut up and went back inside.

Many families in the army had conflict with each other. It had a lot to do with the men, who had discord at work, their families often had sour relationships as well.

In promotions and job changes, the men were also very scheming, each harbouring their own schemes. They wouldn’t hesitate to step on others if it would benefit their promotions.

As Lu Zhanguo listened to the quarrel between Gu Xiaobei and Zhao Hongmei, his mind was filtering through his work-relations to find who could be behind this. Zhong Zhi and a few of his devoted subordinates were at the top of his list.

The current machinations, although seeming like common gossip among women at a glance, were actually specifically aimed at him.

Gu Xiaobei returned in a huff, plopped down on the sofa, picked up the tea pot and drank heavily.

Lu Zhanguo comforted her: "Alright, no need to be angry. They are all irrelevant people."

Gu Xiaobei nodded: "I’m just upset at how this person could fabricate such lies? Isn’t this blatant slander? And Zhao Hongmei actually believes it. Where has her brain gone?"

After lunch, Lu Zhanguo helped put the two children to bed, informed Gu Xiaobei, and went to look for Liu Hongbing in the army.

"Why are you out instead of resting at home?" Liu Hongbing asked in surprise.

Lu Zhanguo pulled over a chair to sit down, casually flipping through the documents on the table he asked, "Can you help me look into Luo Renlian’s background? And his relationship with Zhong Zhi?"

"Do we need to look into that? It’s well known that both of them have been war buddies for many years. As for their relationship? It seems average. I’ve seen Luo Renlian and Zhong Zhi argue several times." Liu Hongbing sat down as well and replied.