"Blood brother, blood brother, our blood brother visits us, and this is how we treat him? Did you see Wang Zhengjun’s expression? He was angry and disgusted. I guess he felt humiliated by his elder brother and thought the amount of food he brought was too less."
"If he were my brother, I wouldn’t even give him a single head of cabbage, let alone dried sweet potatoes, corn cobs, cabbages, radishes, and beans!"
"Country folk are so straightforward and simple, didn’t you hear old Li say that?"
"We need to be cautious of Wang Zhengjun. This man, he’s no good. If he treats his own brother , how would he treat others? If he gets promoted, we, the ones who often compete with him, are done for!"
"Right, right, right, we can’t let him get ahead. His wife is no better than him. Haven’t you heard her sister-in-law complaining?"
"We can’t ostracize him too openly, or else he will surely hold a grudge against us."
"Let’s pretend we don’t know anything about this. Keep it to ourselves and don’t mention it in front of him."
"We’ll quietly report to Director Wang later. We should advise her not to confront or criticize Wang Zhengjun no matter what she hears. Otherwise, he’ll remember all of us and will seek revenge when he gets a chance. People who keep up appearances and hold grudges are like that. He won’t know who reported him and he would knock us all into the water."
"Makes sense, makes sense. A gentleman is open and aboveboard, while a petty man is always uneasy. We can’t afford to offend such a man."
Wang Zhengjun was oblivious to the fact that many of his colleagues were gossiping behind his back. He stared angrily at the morsels of food at his feet. The pitiful amount of food that couldn’t even fill a tooth gap had caused him great embarrassment. He remembered his elder brother, but he couldn’t retaliate. He knew that if he showed even a hint of dissatisfaction, others would surely label him as ungrateful.
Unable to swallow his anger, Wang Zhengjun poured himself a cup of cold boiled water from a porcelain jar. He tipped his head back and drank it all in one gulp, forcing down the lump in his throat.
At this time, his colleague, Zou Chenglong, came over, "Comrade Zhengjun, let’s discuss something."
"What is it?" Wang Zhengjun forced a smile. Zou Chenglong’s brother-in-law worked in the municipal committee and was rumored to be a high-ranking official. Zou Chenglong’s job at the Mining Bureau was arranged through his brother-in-law. Even though he and Wang Zhengjun were both officials earning the same salary, their status within the Mining Bureau was quite different.
Zou Chenglong glanced around several times, his eyes glued to the grain on the ground. He rubbed his fingers together, grinning, "I heard that your country brother sent you some food. Can I borrow some? I’ll pay you back once I get my rations next month."
This nearly caused Wang Zhengjun to choke. He nearly passed out.
Asking for grain was just the beginning, he didn’t dare offend Zou Chenglong and lent him five catties of dried sweet potatoes and a couple of corn cobs. As soon as he got off work and returned home, he saw many of his neighbours who had come to borrow food.
The houses of the Mining Bureau staff were all distributed by the unit and were not far from the Bureau. Any news traveled quickly.
"Comrade Zhengjun, let’s discuss something."
"Your family has grain rations, and you don’t have any kids, so you have enough to eat. You certainly won’t be able to finish all the food your brother brought you. Let us borrow some. Once we have plenty, we’ll pay you back."
"It’s great to have a brother, even in difficult times, he worries about you going hungry."
"You’ve taken a lot of food from Jinhua’s family before, so you must have some spare. It won’t hurt to lend us some, you can’t let us starve!"
...I’m still not sure if the release date is on the 10th or the 13th. The editor didn’t give me a definite time. Anyway, 50,000 words will be updated on the day of the release.