Qin Hongying glanced at Su Xiaotang with displeasure, her tone turning cold. "Why not? Whether it's you or Qinghe going to the song and dance troupe, you both have to go through the auditions. Even if other people know about my connection, they won't have anything to say."
Su Xiaotang's expression stiffened. She gripped her spoon tighter and forced a smile to cover herself. "Mom, I'm only thinking of Qinghe. With all the chatterbox people in the troupe, I’ve been constantly gossiped about for getting in through connections just in the half-month I’ve been there. If Qinghe goes too, there's no telling what kind of harsh things people might say."
This was half true. In the troupe, her dancing wasn't the most outstanding, but whenever people heard her mother was Commissar Qin, they gave her some face—nobody dared gossip about her to her face.
If Gu Qinghe went in, at worst people would only mutter behind her back while still openly buttering her up with courtesy.
Gu Xiuyuan had a thin skin and dreaded troubling others. Hearing that it would invite public criticism, he waved his hand with a smile and said, "Then let's forget it. I only brought it up on the spur of the moment. We can just arrange some other work for her."
Although Su Xiaotang's words sounded harsh, they made some sense. Arranging for two people to enter the song and dance troupe in a single month was indeed too conspicuous.
He didn't want Qin Hongying to be whispered about by others for abusing her official position on their account.
"Xiuyuan, you don't need to carry this burden." Qin Hongying frowned. "Arranging jobs in the compound is a very common matter."
Since everyone living around them was a family member of the garrison, jobs were mostly assigned based on their actual circumstances.
If Gu Qinghe's musical talent was outstanding and she won the recognition of the troupe, it wouldn't count as abusing power at all.
Gu Xiuyuan couldn't make up his mind for a moment. He both wanted Gu Qinghe to have a stable job in the family compound and was reluctant to trouble Qin Hongying.
He hesitated and looked at Gu Qinghe, intending to let her make her own decision. "Nandan, what do you think? Do you want to go to the song and dance troupe?"
The whole family's gaze fell on her, including Qin Yuchen's.
Earlier, he had suggested that Gu Qinghe could join the army, but she had refused because she felt the military life was too hard. So now, a job in the song and dance troupe should surely suit her, right?
Gu Qinghe's eyes held a smile as she popped a small cherry tomato into her mouth and chewed, speaking vaguely. "Dad, have you forgotten? Ever since the turmoil began, I haven't touched a musical instrument in a long time. Even if Aunt Qin bridges the gap for me to audition, I might not pass, so let's just forget it."
This saved trouble and kept Qin Hongying from being put in a difficult position.
"It looks like we'll just have to look at other jobs then." Gu Xiuyuan sighed, seemingly having anticipated long ago that she would make this choice.
Qin Hongying asked in confusion, "Qinghe, what do you want to do then? Aside from these, other jobs are even less suitable for you."
Qin Yuchen frowned slightly. Intuition told him that Gu Qinghe definitely had her own plans, but he couldn't guess what she specifically wanted to do.
So he remained silent, watching quietly as they discussed it.
A flash of smug triumph crossed Su Xiaotang's face, and she feigned astonishment as she asked, "If you look down on the jobs in the family compound, Qinghe, doesn't that mean your only options are to enter a factory or go down to the countryside as an educated youth?"
"That kind of life isn't easy! You need to think carefully!"
Su Xiaotang put on an air of concern for her, while in reality she couldn't wait for Gu Qinghe to leave the Qin Family quickly.
Gu Qinghe gave her a cold glance. "That won't trouble Elder Sister to worry about. I have my own plans."
Su Xiaotang curled her lips. Just thinking about how Gu Qinghe didn't have a suitable job made her feel immensely gratified—so much so that she even finished up the salted porridge she usually disliked down to the very last drop.
Qin Hongying simply assumed Gu Qinghe hadn't thought things through yet and smiled kindly. "Having a plan is good! Just walk around the family compound these past couple of days, and if there's any job you like, I'll help arrange it for you."
This time Gu Qinghe didn't decline; she smiled and nodded in agreement. "Thank you, Aunt Qin."
The matter of the job was temporarily settled. After breakfast, Qin Hongying took Gu Xiuyuan to the propaganda office of the family compound, intending to help him get a familiar face among the people.
Su Xiaotang also went out. She was going to the song and dance troupe for rehearsal today, and as she passed by Gu Qinghe, an unconcealed triumph hung on her face.
"Gu Qinghe, even though our mother is the military district commissar, she can't just arrange any old job you want. Since you have such high ambitions and low capabilities, just wait to go farm the fields in the countryside!"
She knew all too well what the countryside looked like.
Hardship, backwardness, isolation—girls were arranged to be married off the moment they turned adults.
Those educated youths who went down to the countryside, if they looked a bit pretty, were targeted and harassed by the villagers every day.
A delicate young miss like Gu Qinghe who looked like a flower would only have her life ground down and tormented if she went to the countryside.
Thinking of this, Su Xiaotang happily curved the corners of her lips. She had been worrying about finding no chance to drive the person away, but she hadn't expected Gu Qinghe not to plan on staying anyway, saving her a lot of trouble.
"Elder Sister should worry more about herself—on how to rely on her own ability to stand firm in the song and dance troupe," Gu Qinghe said with a crooked smile, looking at her as if she were a clown putting on a farce, and sneered, "instead of relying on Aunt Qin's connections to act all high and mighty in front of me."
"You—"
Su Xiaotang's face turned beet red with anger instantly, but she couldn't outtalk Gu Qinghe. She could only throw out a fierce threat: "You just wait for me!"
Then she mounted her bicycle and pedaled away in a flurry.
Qin Yuchen, who had changed his clothes and stepped out of the house, happened to witness this scene. His eyes darkened slightly as he asked, "Did Su Xiaotang give you a hard time again?"
Gu Qinghe raised an eyebrow at him. "Who is giving whom a hard time isn't certain yet!"
Qin Yuchen thought about it and decided that was true.
After all, Su Xiaotang never managed to get any upper hand from her; on the contrary, Su Xiaotang herself always ended up thoroughly worn out by Gu Qinghe's tossing.
Qin Yuchen didn't ask any further and instead wheeled out his bicycle. "Get on."
Gu Qinghe sat sideways onto the back. Looking at Qin Yuchen's broad back, she didn't know where to put her hands and could only awkwardly place them on her thighs, saying in a low voice, "I'm ready."
Out of the corner of his eye, Qin Yuchen caught sight of this. He pressed his thin lips together and said in a low voice, "Hold on tight."
With a push of his foot, the bicycle surged forward steadily.
Qin Yuchen didn't ride fast, and the roads inside the compound were relatively flat, so Gu Qinghe sat quite securely on the back.
However, after riding out of the residential area and onto the main road, the road instead became bumpy.
The bike bounced up and down, forcing Gu Qinghe to grab the iron rack on the back seat just to barely steady her balance.
Suddenly, the bike rolled over a large pothole carved out by a military vehicle and was violently jerked upward. Gu Qinghe lost her center of gravity, and her body involuntarily lunged forward.
"Ah!" she cried out in alarm, having no choice but to reach out and wrap her arms around Qin Yuchen's waist, pressing the soft curves of her chest tightly against him.
Felt the unusual touch on his back, Qin Yuchen instantly understood what it was. His breathing stalled for a second, his Adam's apple bobbed up and down, and his voice turned hoarse.
"Are you all right?"