Transmigration: On the Gossip Front
Chapter 420 The Foolish Filial Man’s Wife 35_1

Chapter 420: Chapter 420 The Foolish Filial Man’s Wife 35_1

Zhao Wenjin had no idea that some people were maliciously waiting for Liao Jiayu’s junior high exam results, or even considering her college entrance exam results.

The current her was happily eating, "When eating, besides the importance of the side dishes, the dining environment matters as well."

"Today’s side dishes were quite impressive, with a top-notch speed in picking up food, pity about the poor table manners."

Recalling how Liao Bin would grab food without looking, indifferently choosing, only to discard it back onto the plate upon realizing it wasn’t to his liking.

Zhao Wenjin acknowledged she had dealt with many oddballs in her various assignments, but she had encountered very few like him.

"Stay away from Liao Bin in the future," Zhao Wenjin swallowed the food in her mouth, recalling she had forgotten to remind Liao Jiayu about something.

Liao Jiayu was also happily eating, sparing a bit of attention to nod her head, "I know."

"I will absolutely not get close to him." As for this cousin, Liao Jiayu had never liked him, not just because he bullied her since she was young.

She had also seen him hanging out with a bunch of delinquents, smoking and the like outside.

She had not planned to mention it, but the memory of Liao Bin’s malicious glance as she was leaving made her worry that something might happen.

After detailing the incident to Zhao Wenjin, who knew Liao Bin had delinquent friends, she thought they were friends from his vocational school days, idling about at home after graduation.

But she hadn’t expected that they knew each other from even earlier than she thought.

Thinking about how they treated Liao Jiayu in the previous life, Zhao Wenjin grew tense, "I’ll pick you up from school in the future."

"Even if someone tells you that your dad and I had an accident, or that something happened to the Liao family, you must not care."

"If we truly had an issue, we would inform your teacher to tell you."

"Even if Liao Bin comes for you, don’t pay him any mind."

"Someone who mingles with delinquents is not likely to be of any good,"

"Just look at his manners; if he’s not disciplined, he’s bound to face tough times ahead."

Initially, Zhao Wenjin did not want to get involved. Whether their son was good or bad was none of her business, and she had no need to clean up after him.

Now the situation was different; someone was actually targeting her own child, which was absolutely intolerable.

Liao Kai was very disappointed in Liao Bin, but he had never expected the boy to end up where he was.

"He’s actually learning to be a hoodlum; I wonder if the old man and the others know." If the old folks found out, he could only guess how they would discipline Liao Bin.

"And what if they do know? They might say the messenger bears ill will, falsely accusing their precious grandson."

"Or they might think someone has corrupted their precious grandson."

"By the way, you might want to mention it to your dad," she wouldn’t say anything, but Liao Kai was different.

Liao Kai initially wanted to give a reminder or two, because, after all, he couldn’t just watch Liao Bin go astray with his eyes wide open.

But thinking about the old man’s biased actions, Liao Kai felt his heart grow colder.

"Forget it, I won’t go."

"Who in the family would stand up and say something to him, the person who spends his days at home complaining about everything, feeling that everyone else is useless?"

"If they don’t want to bother, why the hell should I care?" Liao Kai also warned Liao Jiayu, "Don’t get too close to Liao Bin. No matter what he says, don’t interact with him."

Liao Jiayu kept nodding her head, "I know, mom and dad, you can rest assured, I’ll be careful."

With both her parents saying so, Liao Jiayu was certainly going to take it even more seriously.

In the following days, Zhao Wenjin was slacking off at work; while chatting with colleagues, she was all about practicing the basics.

At first, the colleagues were quite surprised that Zhao Wenjin, at her age, actually wanted to learn how to paint. However, once they found out she had studied it as a child and had some foundation, they didn’t say much after that.

As for her incessant practice of sketching, everyone got used to it. In the beginning, they would crane their necks to catch a glimpse of her drawing, but later on, they didn’t even feel the desire to look.

Zhao Wenjin knew she had more time to paint at work and would occasionally draw some simple pictures there.

Just as she had thought, her colleagues didn’t notice that while they were chatting, reading newspapers, or knitting sweaters, Zhao Wenjin was earning quite a bit of extra money.

Of course, when Zhao Wenjin wasn’t in the office, they would gossip behind her back, "Already at that age, and still painting."

"I’ve seen the price of her painting supplies, and they’re not cheap at all," one gossiping colleague, who checked the prices while out shopping, said.

Upon hearing the price of the paints, everyone gasped, "Just buy some paints casually, no need to get such expensive ones."

There were also colleagues in the factory whose children were learning to paint, and they had mentioned the cost of buying paints and other materials.

"With that money, one could eat good food or buy nice clothes," said a housewife, pursing her lips.

"I remember she used to draw with pencils, didn’t she?"

"Like they care about this money. We rely on our wages to get by, but their family has property and can live comfortably off rental income."

"Right, I heard Zhao Wenjin mention before that after her daughter finishes her middle school exams, they plan to renovate their home."

"Renovate the home?" A colleague who lived in an apartment building had visited Zhao Wenjin’s house.

Although she acknowledged that Zhao Wenjin’s house was quite large, she still didn’t think it could compare to an apartment.

"If they have the money, why didn’t they think of buying an apartment?"

"I’ve heard her say that living in a courtyard house is comfortable." Another colleague had also asked Zhao Wenjin why they didn’t buy an apartment if they had the money.

"True, they have a bathroom, but these old houses don’t have central heating."

The main reason everyone liked living in apartment buildings was that after paying a sum of money, they would have heating, "How do you heat a single-story house?"

"They have money, what are you worried about? They can use portable heaters." A colleague thought the others were just worrying too much.

Zhao Wenjin had just gone outside to get something and returned to the office, only to hear her colleagues worrying about this.

Heating the courtyard house was a problem, but she had a plan: buy an electric boiler and do the plumbing for heating along the walls herself.

Although this would mean that the electricity bill would spike during the winter, the advantage was that they could warm up whenever they wanted to.

Regrettably, they wouldn’t be able to enjoy this during the current winter season. She had wanted to start the work before the New Year so that they could enjoy the warmth of heating at home during winter.

But then she remembered that Liao Jiayu was about to have her middle school exams, so she postponed the project. With a student in the home, some considerations had to be made.

When they saw Zhao Wenjin, everyone quickly changed the subject—as seasoned pros at topic-switching, they handled it with ease.

Even if someone picked up on it, what of it? The office was all about discussing others; no one could avoid it.

Zhao Wenjin knew they were discussing her but didn’t mind. Let them talk.

Seeing something in her hands, everyone asked, "What’s that?"

"I’m planning to take the family to The South for a trip during the Spring Festival, so I’ve booked the flights."

In an era without the internet, it really wasn’t easy needing to have travel agencies book tickets, luckily nobody else had plans to travel during the Spring Festival.

Over the Spring Festival, Zhao Wenjin’s family was actually going to fly to The South for a vacation?

Upon hearing this news, the colleagues were shocked once more. They knew Zhao Wenjin lived comfortably, but they hadn’t expected it to be this comfortable.