Chapter 538: Jealous Hatred
Phoebe Huxley wasn’t the only one who was furious; everyone else was angry too. How could a slut like Phoenix Golding manage to marry a man with a steady salary? A filthy whore like her deserved to spend the rest of her life as a beggar, despised by all. They’d only feel vindicated if she became a pariah that everyone wanted to beat down.
But now, Phoenix Golding was about to marry someone at a coal mine. It was far away, in another province entirely. Who there would know about the filthy things that bitch had done? In a year or so, few people in Clearspring Township would even remember. Time was the great eraser. Once everyone had more or less forgotten, Phoenix Golding could start over, maybe even return one day in glory.
Audrey Thorne was so angry she clenched her fists. ’Has Heaven gone blind? How can it let such a wicked woman turn her life around? No, I absolutely cannot let Phoenix Golding marry someone at the coal mine. I can’t let that woman have a chance to make a comeback.’
"I heard the pay at the coal mines is especially high," Fiona Rhodes said angrily. "The miners who go down into the pits can make over forty yuan, and they get fifty pounds of grain a month."
Phoebe Huxley’s heart skipped a beat, her head throbbed, and a wave of unease washed over her. She asked nervously, "Who did you hear that from? Is the pay at the coal mines really that high?"
Frederick Thorne was a skilled worker, and he only made a little over forty yuan a month. That was more than a government official’s salary, but he didn’t get fifty pounds of grain—only forty-two. Even the university graduates assigned to the winery only made around thirty yuan.
"Someone from my parents’ village also married a man at a coal mine in Rhydan Province. She’s the one who told me. It’s not that everyone gets paid that well. Only the ones who go down into the pits make that much. Working underground is dangerous. One accident, and you’re dead. That’s why the pay is so high. Plus, they arrange jobs for the family members. The person from my village married a team leader, and she was assigned to manage the warehouse. It’s a really cushy job, and she makes over twenty yuan a month!"
Fiona Rhodes’s tone was full of envy. The woman who had married into the coal mine was a distant cousin of hers, from a branch of the family more than five generations removed. Besides, her family’s class background wasn’t good—they were classified as "middle peasants"—so they didn’t interact much. It was because of this poor standing that her beautiful and capable cousin couldn’t find a good match in their own village. In a fit of pique, she married the man from the coal mine. Her new husband was thirteen or fourteen years older than her. At the time, the villagers had laughed at her, but now they were all green with envy.
Her cousin was eloquent, a good homemaker, and clever with her hands. After arriving at the mine, she became quite popular and managed to get in good with the wives of the mine director and the party secretary. When she first got there, the only job she could get was the hardest one: a coal hauler. That work was no easier than going down into the mines.
When large trucks came to the mine to load coal, someone had to carry it onto the vehicles. They would lay two wooden planks down from the truck bed, and the women—the miners’ family members—would haul the coal up the ramp. It was a race against time because there were dozens of trucks waiting behind them. If you wasted time, you’d be kicked off the hauling team.
They worked from morning till night, completely covered in coal dust. You could only see their nostrils, eyes, and mouth. And the pay wasn’t even good, because they were temporary workers. All the dirty, exhausting jobs went to the temporary workers.
Fiona Rhodes’s cousin worked as a coal hauler for three years. Whenever she came back, she never spoke of the hardship, only saying that she was doing well. Later, after she’d built a good relationship with the leaders’ wives, she would go to Tristone to pick up goods for them every time she visited her family. Over time, she became as close as a best friend to them. After three years, she was promoted to a permanent position with an easy workload and high pay.
(Author’s note: I grew up in a coal mining community and dealt with coal every day. Life was incredibly hard for people back then, for both men and women.)
After Fiona Rhodes said all this, the sour tang of jealousy in the room grew even stronger. Phoebe Huxley was so consumed with envy she couldn’t even bring herself to work. She was unhappy simply because Phoenix Golding was doing well, and Raina felt the same way.
None of the women had any desire to work. They were filled with jealousy and hatred for Phoenix Golding, but they couldn’t think of a good way to take that bitch down.
"Why is Heaven so blind? Why doesn’t it just let that bitch fall in a river and drown!" Phoebe Huxley finally blurted out after a long silence.