"No, I was transferred to another department, and the hospital gave me three days off."
"Ohh, you were transferred? To where?" their neighbor, Auntie Wu, asked enthusiastically.
Huo Mian answered with a smile, "To the hospital laboratory, all I do is draw and run tests on blood."
"That's good, it's much easier. I told your mom to tell you not to work at the OB/GYN department, it's too much responsibility. The pregnant ladies there are such prissy pants. If you don't take care of them the way they want, they'll pick on you. It's good that you were transferred."
"Yeah, it's relatively easier, and I don't have to work night shifts anymore."
"Hey, Mian, why didn't your boyfriend come with you?"
The neighbors were really gossipy; some of her mother's friends were nosy and couldn't help themselves from asking.
"We broke up."
"What, you guys broke up? I thought you were getting married? Why did you break up?" To no one's surprise, the middle-aged women all became interested at the sight of gossip.
Huo Mian felt awkward and didn't know what to say.
Then, she saw Zhixin walk out into the yard. He took the cake in Huo Mian's hand and said, "Young people nowadays usually break up because of incompatible personalities."
"Isn't he a doctor? That's a good profession."
They all thought that it was a shame Huo Mian broke up with Ning Zhiyuan.
"How is it good? He's still an intern and might not even be given a permanent position at the hospital. Plus, that dude's personality was not compatible with my sister's at all. When they were talking about marriage, he mishandled so many details. The two of them decided to end their relationship peacefully."
"Oh, I see. So that's what happened," Zhixin answered well for his sister, and the middle-aged women finally stopped pestering for more details…
After a while, Yang Meirong served the food.
There were eight dishes, and the cake that Huo Mian ordered earlier was placed in the middle.
In addition to Yang Meirong, Huo Mian, and Jing Zhixin, there were three other middle-aged women, of which Auntie Wu was closest to Yang Meirong.
As for the other two, Huo Mian didn't really like them.
Not because they weren't rich; rather, it was because they were typical narrow-minded cheapskates.
They liked taking advantage of others, gossiping about other families and were complete wallflowers. They looked down on people with no money.
Auntie Wu's son was thirty years old and single, and she herself was kind of well off. She owned two properties, and a storefront in the city and her son worked at a bank. He went on blind dates dozens of times, but they were all unsuccessful. Most of the time, it was because they thought that the woman's family background wasn't good enough for them.
"Mom, happy birthday." Huo Mian took out the dress she bought for her mother.
After seeing the brand, Auntie Wang asked, "My gosh, isn't this from Girdear? That's not a cheap brand. How much did you spend, Mian?"
"Not much."
"How much is not much?" Auntie Wang probed.
"A little over twelve hundred yuan."
"Twelve hundred is a lot, you only earn two thousand a month, right? Tsk tsk, I can't believe you would buy a dress so expensive."
Aunties Wang's words reeked of disdain.
Yang Meirong looked at the dress and casually said, "That's why daughters are better. She earns two grand a month but is willing to spend twelve hundred to buy me a dress. Too bad someone's son earns more than ten thousand yuan every month but still has yet to buy his mother anything."
Auntie Wang was embarrassed by this and immediately shut up.
Apparently, a while back on her birthday, her son didn't even call her. He probably forgot about it. Her son had graduated from a university in Singapore and worked at a foreign-owned enterprise, so he earned more than fifteen thousand yuan a month.
"Not bad, my friend. You've got a great son and daughter. Zhixin's still in school but managed to save up enough money to buy you a pair of shoes. You didn't raise them up for nothing."
At that moment, the other middle-aged woman, Auntie Liu, said with her big mouth, "It would be better if Jing was here, you'll have a whole and happy family. It's too bad that…"
Upon hearing Uncle Jing's name, Huo Mian's eyes turned red, and she felt her throat clog up.