Chapter 20

After Xia Qingning left, a girl with a square face and a big nose looked at Sister Qin curiously and asked:

“What did Director Liao want her for?”

Sister Qin tapped her head and said with a smile:

“Little Fang, if you put as much effort into your work as you do into gossiping, you would be great. Director Liao is looking for her for work, of course. What else could it be?”

“That’s not necessarily true.” A voice suddenly chimed in from the side. The woman who spoke was twenty-three or twenty-four years old, very beautiful, and dressed quite fashionably. She suddenly curled her lips and said in a slow tone, “Director Liao has always been very attentive to her, hasn’t he? Look how beautifully she’s dressed today. Maybe he called her to his office to find a partner or something.”

“Little Red, don’t talk nonsense.” Sister Qin looked at the woman, her tone becoming serious, “Qingning is married. What kind of partner is she looking for?”

“She said she’s married, but we’ve never seen her husband.” Little Red woman scoffed and continued, “Besides, you can still find a partner even if you’re married. I think she and the director are quite close.”

“You’re getting more and more careless with your mouth.” Sister Qin tapped her, “Go get back to work.”

While the two were talking, Xia Qingning had already reached the door of the office. Liao Qiang was pouring water from an enamel cup. When he saw her, he quickly raised his hand to greet her:

“Qingning, you’re here. Come in, come in.”

Xia Qingning walked in with her head held high, her face calm. She pretended not to know and asked, “Director Liao, what do you want?”

Liao Qiang walked to the door, leaned out, looked left and right, then closed the door. He walked to Xia Qingning’s side, lowered his voice, and said:

“Qingning, I feel relieved seeing that you’re okay. I heard you were sick for the past two days. You don’t know how worried I was. I was being foolish that day. Don’t take it to heart.”

“I can forget about what happened before, but I hope Director Liao will behave himself in the future.” Xia Qingning looked straight at him, her voice cold, clearly expressing her attitude.

Liao Qiang had never seen Xia Qingning so cold before. He thought she was still angry about that day and quickly continued to coax her:

“Oh, don’t be angry. I didn’t want to save you that day. I was just scared. You jumped into the river for no reason. If something had happened to you, I would have been so heartbroken. You know I really like you.”

Xia Qingning looked at Liao Qiang, who was less than 5’6″, with a receding hairline almost reaching the back of his head, looking at her with a lecherous expression. She felt a wave of nausea in her stomach. She said with a sullen face:

“Director Liao, don’t say things like that. You know that indecent assault can get you shot.”

“Shot.” Liao Qiang laughed. He didn’t take Xia Qingning’s words seriously. He approached Xia Qingning from behind, leaned close to her white, slender neck, sniffed greedily, and said with a look of intoxication, “I would be willing to be shot for you. I haven’t seen you for two days, and you’re even more beautiful and charming.”

As he spoke, his hand had already moved restlessly. It was about to wrap around Xia Qingning’s waist.

Xia Qingning cleverly moved to the side, avoiding his hand. Then she quickly raised her arm and, before he could react, slapped him hard across the face.

There was a “slap” sound. Liao Qiang, who was completely unprepared, took a solid slap across the face. He was stunned, his eyes wide open, looking at Xia Qingning in disbelief.

He never thought that the person who used to speak to him without daring to raise her voice would actually hit him. It took him a while to squeeze out a sentence:

“You stinky girl, are you crazy?”

Xia Qingning gently rubbed her aching wrist, lamenting how weak this body was. She met Liao Qiang’s gaze, without any fear, and said in a low voice:

“I already told you to behave yourself. You didn’t listen, so I have to teach you manually.”

“You little stinker, you dare hit me.” Liao Qiang, recovering from his shock, immediately glared fiercely. He took two steps towards Xia Qingning and raised his hand to slap her back.

“Director Liao…” Xia Qingning raised her voice, stopping his next move. Then she calmly continued, “You don’t know, my husband is back.”

Hearing this, Liao Qiang paused, stood still, and his raised hand didn’t dare to come down. He had never seen such an expression on Xia Qingning’s face, calm and determined.

Everything was as Xia Qingning had expected. This Liao Qiang was just a bully. She continued to threaten him, “You better stay away from me in the future. He’s a battalion commander now. He has a rank and can carry a gun. If he finds out what you did that day, do you think he’ll do anything to you?”

Liao Qiang was so shocked that he couldn’t say a word. He didn’t expect that Xia Qingning’s soldier husband had really come back, and he didn’t expect him to be so high-ranking.

He was just a small workshop director. If he messed with the battalion commander’s wife, wouldn’t he be asking for it?

Seeing Liao Qiang’s terrified eyes and the fine beads of sweat on his forehead, Xia Qingning was very satisfied. It seemed that a battalion commander husband was really useful.

Xia Qingning felt very good after coming out of Liao Qiang’s office. She knew that to deal with people like Liao Qiang, you had to be quick, accurate, and ruthless. Being weak would only make him push his luck and harass her endlessly. Today, she taught him a lesson, and he wouldn’t dare to be so brazen anymore.

Xia Qingning worked the early shift this month, and she got off work at 5:30 in the afternoon. She carried her bag and was just walking out of the factory gate when she ran into Wu Xiaodong again. Wu Xiaodong greeted her when he saw her:

“Qingning Jie, why don’t you take my bike back?”

Xia Qingning had been working on the sewing machine all day, and her feet were already sore. Following the principle that if there’s a car to take, why walk, she readily agreed.

The bike moved forward. The breeze blew on her face, and Xia Qingning felt very comfortable. The fatigue of the day seemed to have dissipated.

Wu Xiaodong was pedaling ahead and suddenly started laughing.

Xia Qingning was wondering what was so funny when she heard him say:

“Qingning Jie, do you know? That guy surnamed Liao was beaten up today. His face is swollen. He was too embarrassed to go to the canteen at noon and didn’t even get to eat. When he left just now, he was still covering his face with his bag, afraid of being seen. Hahaha…”

“Oh, really?” Xia Qingning pretended not to know and asked cooperatively.

“Haha… I wonder who the brave warrior was. It’s so satisfying!” Wu Xiaodong was still immersed in joy and excitement.

Xia Qingning thought, if he knew that the brave warrior he was talking about was sitting in the back seat of his bike right now, would his jaw drop?

“Yeah, good for him.” Xia Qingning nodded in agreement.

They chatted and the bike moved forward quickly. Halfway there, Xia Qingning remembered that she had something else to do. She suddenly said to Wu Xiaodong, “Little Dong, if it’s convenient, take me to the supply and marketing cooperative first. I need to buy something.”

“Convenient, convenient. I’ll take you there now.” Wu Xiaodong said, turning the handlebars and riding towards the supply and marketing cooperative.

They arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative soon. Before going in, Xia Qingning took out a ten-yuan bill and deliberately exchanged it for change with Wu Xiaodong.

Wu Xiaodong exchanged it for her and asked in confusion, “Qingning Jie, can’t you get change inside?”

Xia Qingning smiled and didn’t explain much. She just said, “I need it.”

Wu Xiaodong was very confused, but he didn’t ask any more questions. He followed Xia Qingning inside.

The supply and marketing cooperative didn’t have as many things as the department store, but it had all the daily necessities, vegetables, meat… everything you could need.

There weren’t many people buying things in the store. As soon as Xia Qingning walked in, He Shanshan at the counter saw her and blurted out, “What are you doing here?”