Chapter 472: Chapter 472: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
"Ziquan, aren’t you tired? Why don’t you rest for a while before training again!" Mr. Mu asked with concern, looking at his grandson’s slightly pale face.
Mu Ziquan was watching Mu Shan’s retreating figure. At his grandfather’s question, he steadied himself against the wall as he turned and shook his head slightly.
"Grandpa, I’m fine. These past two days, I can already stand on my own for half an hour, and I can even take two steps without holding onto the wall."
Mu Ziquan’s voice was filled with excitement. His grandaunt’s rehabilitation plan was comparable to one from a top international trainer.
Though the regimen was intense and the process painful, the results came quickly.
"Really? That’s wonderful." Hearing that his grandson could take two steps, Mr. Mu was truly happy for him.
But remembering Mu Ziquan’s hard work and suffering lately, he still felt a pang of heartache and said,
"Ziquan, Jiaojiao said your legs are almost better, but Grandpa hopes you don’t rush things..." At this point, Mr. Mu trailed off, seeming hesitant to say more.
Seeing that his grandfather seemed to have more to say, Mu Ziquan quickly spoke up to explain, "Grandpa, don’t worry.
Even though my legs were paralyzed for three years, they’re recovering very quickly. All I have to do now is follow the training methods my grandaunt prescribed."
"Mm, you must remember to strictly follow Jiaojiao’s instructions. You can’t increase the training intensity on your own, understand?"
After hearing his grandson’s words, Mr. Mu smiled in gratification, his eyes faintly shimmering with tears.
At the same time, while he was happy, he felt his grandson was pushing himself too hard by training non-stop.
So he quickly changed the subject, hoping to let his grandson rest a bit more. "By the way, Ziquan, we don’t just rely on walking for transportation anymore.
And we don’t just rely on shouting to communicate. We’ve had telephones for a long time now. Why did you still have Mu Shan run the errand in person?"
Mr. Mu recalled his childhood. Back then, fights were settled with fists in a life-or-death struggle of pure strength. One careless move could leave an opponent crippled. That era was long gone.
"Hehe, my bad. I was in such a rush that I completely forgot we have a phone at home!"
Mu Ziquan said sheepishly. He belatedly realized that his anxiety had muddled his thinking, and he felt inexplicably guilty.
"Ziquan, don’t worry about the medical equipment factory. Su Shuochi and Jiaojiao are no pushovers. Besides, they have the Han family, the Xiao Family, and even the Si Family backing them up."
Mr. Mu wasn’t just comforting his grandson; he had already called the relevant departments to handle the matter.
"Grandpa, while I’m waiting for my legs to fully recover, can I study medical equipment R&D?"
"Mm, that’s a possibility. When you can walk freely, you could also hold a nominal position in a relevant department like Su Shuochi, ready to be called upon whenever the country needs you."
"Grandpa, if my legs make a full recovery, I still want to go fight on the front lines."
"Ziquan, as long as you’re happy, Grandpa will support you," Mr. Mu said sincerely.
"Dad, Ziquan, what are you two talking about on the balcony? Come down for dinner," Mu Qingtong shouted from the top of the stairs.
"Okay, we’re coming down for dinner now. Are Uncle and the others coming back for dinner tonight?" Mu Ziquan asked in a good mood.
"They’re eating at the factory cafeteria. Besides, we can cook in our dorm room too," Mu Qingtong said in a flat tone.
In truth, she was still holding in a bellyful of anger, but she didn’t dare lose her temper in front of her father and nephew.
Ever since her adopted daughter caused that incident, she had lost too much face to go back to her original workplace, so she took an early retirement.
Because she was only forty-eight, Gu Jiaojiao hired her to work in the electronics factory’s cafeteria.
Mu Qingtong’s usual duties were to check if the vegetables delivered by the farmers were fresh, then weigh them and record the accounts.
At the same time, she also helped supervise the cafeteria’s hygiene. The work was very easy. Mu Qingtong knew this was her aunt’s and nephew’s factory.
Moreover, her husband was now the factory manager, and her son was a key member of the technical department. Their family also held a small stake in the company.
So, in her spare time, Mu Qingtong would also find other tasks to do, which would save the factory one person’s salary.
A woman who used to be her neighbor was from the countryside, had married into the city, and had never held a job.
Upon learning that Mu Qingtong had found a job even after retiring, the neighbor began to lay on the flattery thick. Compliments are free, after all.
Even though Mu Qingtong was getting on in years, she had a simple nature and would get carried away after just a few words of praise.
So, with a confident thump on her chest, she got her neighbor a job in the electronics factory cafeteria.
In the beginning, the woman and Mu Qingtong were like real sisters. She would even insist on doing more of the work for Mu Qingtong.
For example, when Mu Qingtong was carrying out the coal cinders to dump them, the neighbor would snatch the trash basket from her hands, "Let me handle rough work like this."
Mu Qingtong had been pampered her whole life, so with someone eager to do the work, she was naturally happy to take it easy.
But after a while, the neighbor grew resentful. Why should she have to do the rough work while all Mu Qingtong did was weigh the vegetables?
Coming from the countryside, she had always been secretly jealous of Mu Qingtong’s good family background and good fortune.
Mu Qingtong not only had a cushy job at a state-owned enterprise, but she herself had never even had a job.
Now that they were both working in a private factory’s cafeteria, why should she be the one doing the heavy lifting?
So for the past two days, she had been slacking off and not taking out the coal cinders. The trash basket under the cafeteria stove was overflowing, and still, no one emptied it.
Mu Qingtong had forgotten all about the task, and the neighbor, seeing it, pretended she hadn’t, letting the trash pile up into a small mountain.
The head chef in the cafeteria, in a fit of anger, reported both of them to the factory manager.
At the time, Mr. Wang had not approved of his wife recommending that two-faced neighbor for a job at the factory.
So he scolded his wife harshly. Mu Qingtong knew she was in the wrong and said nothing in front of her husband.
But when she returned to the cafeteria, she angrily complained to her neighbor, "I was taking out the coal cinders just fine every day before, but you insisted on taking over. Now you just stop without saying a word. What’s the meaning of this?"
"What could I mean? I’m swamped. The factory manager is your husband, isn’t it normal for him to scold you a bit?"
"You... you..." Mu Qingtong was so furious that for a long moment, she couldn’t form a complete sentence to rebuke her.
"What ’you’? If you’ve got the guts, then quit!" The neighbor just wanted to anger Mu Qingtong into leaving.
’She thought that if she angered Mu Qingtong into leaving, the daily job of weighing vegetables and bookkeeping would become hers.’
"Fine, I’ll quit! You think you can get the easy job after I’m gone? I’d like to see if you can even replace me.
I never should have recommended you for this factory in the first place. So much for trying to be kind—I just ended up helping an ungrateful wolf."
In a fit of anger, Mu Qingtong really did go back to the Mu Family home. Since the Mu Family currently had no matriarch, she could stay for as long as she wanted.
In reality, her family had their own courtyard house provided by the electronics factory as staff quarters, but she was angry and didn’t want to go back to her own home.
