Chapter 1957 - 1957: The In-Laws Meet (Part 1)
Feng Qingyun and Li Jiaoyang returned to the Lu Family at seven in the evening.
As soon as they entered, they saw Lu Jiang sitting grandly on the single-seater sofa, reading a newspaper. His military uniform was somewhat worn, and perhaps years away from the battlefield and advancing age had tempered him, giving him a commanding presence without the need for anger. Feng Qingxue was perched casually on the sofa arm, her hand resting on his shoulder as she looked at the newspaper with him. Grandmother Ye and the children were not present.
Taking in this warm scene, Feng Qingyun blinked in surprise, "Brother-in-law is back?"
"Yes." Lu Jiang nodded at her and Li Jiaoyang, pointing to the double-seater sofa beside them, "You both sit and tell us everything that happened with the commissar at the arts troupe."
He had barely arrived home when his wife mentioned the matter, but what he had to consider was much more.
"Don't even bring it up, that Commander Li is simply insensible!" Feng Qingyun pulled her boyfriend to sit down, picked up the teapot from the coffee table, and poured the half-warm floral tea into a glass. She finished a glass before recounting to her sister and brother-in-law how she slapped Commander Li, including what Commissar Liu and Commander Li had said.
After explaining everything in an agitated tone, Feng Qingyun's voice was still full of anger, "I joined the military at twelve and stayed in the arts troupe before going abroad. I've never met this Commander Li before. Where did she crawl out from to have so many issues with me? The way she looks at me, it's as if she could eat me alive."
Feng Qingxue raised an eyebrow. Instead of saying her sister was wrong, she said, "Before you all went to the arts troupe, I asked around and somewhat understand why Commander Li dislikes you."
"Why? Could it be she suffered from pretty women in the past? Thus she despises beauties?"
Feng Qingyun, assuming herself a beauty, widened her eyes when she didn't hear her sister's reply — round and shiny like a large emerald bead that Feng Qingxue had collected, "Sister, did I hit the nail on the head?"
Feng Qingxue spread her hands.
This Commander Li was once the flower of the Capital Military Arts Troupe in the early days, before the nation was founded. Compared to Commander Bai, Commander Li had good fortune, marrying a promising cadre early on, and her career was going smoothly. Before Feng Qingyun enlisted, Commander Li was still working on the frontlines, clad in blazers, sporting curled hair, wearing lipstick, and high heels, quite fashionable.
Feng Qingyun said she hadn't seen her because she initially enlisted in the border defense forces and later was reassigned to the Capital Military District. By the time she got there, Commander Li had long been replaced by newcomers.
The first to replace her as a solo performer was none other than Bai Xue.
Commander Li's career didn't go well, and her marriage faltered. At the start of the revolution, her cadre husband divorced her, claiming she had ideological issues, retaining clothes like blazers and cheongsams, indicating she wasn't fully committed to the revolution, so she was transferred from the Capital Arts Troupe. He, in turn, married a young and attractive literary soldier.
A few years ago, Commander Bai was transferred to the Capital Orchestra, a promotion on the surface but a demotion in reality. For reasons unknown, someone thought of Commander Li and brought her over to serve as the arts troupe commander, known for her harsh treatment of literary soldiers.
Upon hearing this, Feng Qingyun interrupted, "Harsh treatment? Or is it preferential treatment? She doesn't say a word when other literary soldiers curl their hair, wear dresses, and put on lipstick, but she has to nitpick at me who just returned to the country and hasn't officially resumed work yet. Isn't that preferential treatment?"