The Engineer Falls for His Sweet-Scented Maid - Chapter 34: A Farce

The wooden door creaked, struck the wall, and bounced back.

A couple in their fifties came in.

Both wore the light textile mill’s blue work clothes. The man’s face was set. The woman was stout, broad through the shoulders and waist, and strode in like a gust of wind.

The room went still.

Yi sprang out of his chair in alarm. “D-Dad? Mom? How did you find us here?”

The union officer quickly rose to smooth things over. “Oh, Mr. Lu, Mrs. Lu, what’s all this? Come and sit down. Your son’s meeting a prospective bride today. Of course his parents should come and see for themselves.”

Yi’s mother ignored her pleasantries.

She stepped over the threshold and swept the room with her eyes. Her gaze settled on Nianhe at the table.

The fitted red dress with its white flowers clearly outlined that slender waist and full bust. Add the fair, lovely face and two black braids, and she hardly looked like a respectable, modest girl.

Mrs. Lu’s face darkened at once.

She looked Nianhe up and down and snorted loudly.

“I wondered what heavenly beauty had stolen our Yi’s soul, making him rush off to meet her without even coming home first.” Her voice was shrill with undisguised disgust. “What on earth are you wearing? Clinging to you like that, sticking out so far in front! Afraid the bachelors in the street won’t notice? What decent unmarried girl goes parading about dressed like this?”

Nianhe flushed scarlet under the abuse. She clutched her skirt so tightly that her nails dug into her flesh.

She had heard insults like these all her life in Liuhe Village. But being berated to her face in front of everyone still brought tears to her eyes.

All Liping wanted was for someone to take this country girl off her hands. Better that she wreak havoc in the Lu family than stay with the Shens and ruin Huai and Tao.

But appearances still had to be maintained.

She stood, smoothed her Dacron blouse, and smiled. “Mrs. Lu, really. Nianhe helps out in our household. I gave her this dress. Young people like to look pretty. There’s nothing wrong with a little color. Your Yi has excellent prospects, and our Nianhe is hardworking and respectable. We only wanted them to get to know each other.”

Yi’s parents were longtime mill workers, but they knew Liping was Mayor Shen’s eldest daughter-in-law from the Municipal Party Committee Compound, and a nurse with a permanent post at Jiang City Municipal Hospital. They could not lightly offend a woman of her standing.

Daqiang Lu tugged his wife’s sleeve. He addressed Liping with some courtesy. “Nurse Wang, this isn’t directed at you. But when our family takes a daughter-in-law, we want someone whose background we know, someone who’ll settle down and build a steady life. This girl looks… far too conspicuous. She isn’t suitable for us.”

Mrs. Lu agreed, her tone slightly softer though her words remained ugly. “Nurse Wang, you’re a person of standing. We ought to trust anyone you introduce. But this girl is a domestic helper from the countryside. She doesn’t even have urban household registration. Our Yi earns a skilled worker’s wage every month. Why should he marry a country girl?”

Yi could bear no more. His face and neck reddened with agitation.

He stepped in front of Nianhe and declared loudly, “Mom! What are you saying? I like Comrade Su! She’s a good person, and she’s gentle when she speaks. I want to marry her! If she agrees, I’ll submit a marriage application tomorrow!”

The room erupted.

His mother shook with rage, jabbing a finger at his face. “You little bastard! Has this vixen bewitched you? You’ve met her once and now you’re desperate to marry her!”

Yi lifted his chin defiantly. “She isn’t a vixen! You don’t know her! You have no right to say that!”

Seeing her son talk back to her for an outsider sent Mrs. Lu’s temper soaring.

Several small dishes and two bottles of orange soda had been laid on the table.

When Yi jumped up earlier, his elbow had accidentally knocked over a plate of fried peanuts. They had scattered across the floor, rolling everywhere.

Beside herself with fury, Mrs. Lu looked around and snatched up the open bottle of orange soda.

“I’ll beat you to death, you shameless vixen! How dare you seduce my son!”

She raised her hand and flung the soda toward Nianhe.

The bright yellow liquid arced through the air.

Nianhe cried out and instinctively shut her eyes, covering her head with both hands as she ducked sideways.

Yi hurried to shield her. Liping was seated right beside her.

Seeing that Mrs. Lu meant business, Liping knew she could not handle a woman of that bulk. Terrified that soda might splash her newly made clothes, she jumped up and scrambled back.

In her haste, she failed to notice the peanuts on the floor.

The heel of her mid-heeled leather shoe landed squarely on one round peanut.

Her foot shot out. With a shriek, she lost her balance and pitched forward.

She fell directly in front of Nianhe, most of her weight landing across Nianhe’s back.

Splash!

More than half a bottle of orange soda hit the back of Liping’s head and her back. Not a drop missed.

Sticky, sugary liquid dripped through her freshly permed curls and soaked her fine Dacron blouse. Yellow stains spread across the white cloth. She looked utterly wretched.

Pinned to the chair beneath her, Nianhe remained perfectly dry.

For two seconds, no one spoke.

Liping struggled off Nianhe and reached behind her head. Her hand came away coated with sticky sugar water.

Never in her life had she suffered such treatment—or such humiliation.

“Have you lost your mind?” All pretense of the decorum expected of an official’s family vanished. She pointed at Mrs. Lu and unleashed a torrent of abuse. “You dare throw soda at me? Are you blind? Who do you Lus think you are, coming here and making a scene?”

Mrs. Lu and Daqiang stared, dumbfounded.

They had dared throw soda at Nianhe because she was a country girl with no one behind her. So what if they drenched her?

Liping was another matter. She was Mayor Shen’s daughter-in-law. Even ten times their courage would not have been enough to harm a hair on her head.

“Oh, Nurse Wang, we’re sorry! We’re so sorry!” Mrs. Lu went pale with fright. She hastily pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and tried to wipe Liping down. “I wasn’t aiming at you! I meant to get that vixen. How was I to know you’d suddenly get in the way—”

“Don’t touch me!” Liping slapped her hand aside, her voice rising with fury. “What a mighty family the Lus are! You really think you’re somebody, don’t you? This isn’t over!”

Still cursing, she snatched her handbag from the table.

Soda dripped from her hair. A broad patch of her back was soaked, and her chest heaved with rage.

“I brought Nianhe here! If she’s not good enough for you, we certainly won’t aspire to your lofty heights! Let him stay a bachelor forever!”

With that, Liping stormed from the room, her heels clacking hard.

Daqiang and his wife knew they had gravely offended her. Unless they handled this well, life at the mill could become miserable for their entire family.

They abandoned their abuse of Nianhe and hurried after her.

“Nurse Wang, please listen! We didn’t mean it…” Their voices receded along the corridor.

Only Nianhe, Yi, and the union officer remained in the private room.