Chapter 82

Having been slapped before, Liáo Qiáng reflexively covered his face as soon as he saw her raise her hand, quickly taking a few steps back.

Seeing his scared and cowardly appearance, Xia Qingning satisfiedly lowered her feigned hand from above her head. She hadn’t actually wanted to hit him, she had just used the act of touching her hair to deliberately scare him.

After all, there were many gossiping mouths in the factory. If she really angered Liáo Qiáng and made a big fuss, it would be detrimental to her reputation if people knew about her eating and watching movies with him.

Liáo Qiáng realized that he had been tricked, feeling both embarrassed and angry. He glared fiercely at Xia Qingning, unconsciously clenching his fist.

Xia Qingning met his gaze, showing no fear. Her frail body stood tall and unyielding, and she said coldly:

“I don’t need to change positions, and I don’t have a younger sister who wants to enter the factory. Director Liáo, don’t waste your efforts.” Then, she reminded him again in a harsh tone:

“Also, I’ve made it very clear last time. Director Liáo, you should be more self-respecting. Otherwise, you’ll end up humiliating yourself and lose face, and everyone will laugh at you.” After saying this, she didn’t look at him again, and turned to leave.

“Xia Qingning!” Liáo Qiáng, enraged and ashamed, raised his voice to stop her.

Xia Qingning’s disdainful attitude towards him, and her actions after escaping his control, made him feel very agitated and angry.

Liáo Qiáng, with a cold smile, walked behind her and lowered his voice to threaten:

“Xia Qingning, let me give you some advice. If you want to keep working here, don’t be stubborn and refuse my kindness!”

Xia Qingning frowned slightly, turned around, looked at Liáo Qiáng, and there was no trace of fear on her face. She said with disgust:

“Liáo Qiáng, you better give up those dirty thoughts, otherwise you’ll be the one who loses their job.”

“Really?” Liáo Qiáng, after listening, looked disdainful. He suddenly put on a smile, but it looked so sleazy no matter how you looked at it.

Liáo Qiáng thought smugly: This little girl probably doesn’t know that he has a fatal hold on her. If he spread this hold, her reputation would be ruined for life!

Liáo Qiáng, with a sleazy look on his face, walked up to Xia Qingning, lowered his head, greedily sniffing her scent, and said in a low voice:

“Qingning, don’t force me…” Then, he leaned into her ear and threatened with a smug look:

“You have a red birthmark on your chest, right? I saw it clearly when I pulled your clothes open last time…” He deliberately paused, observing the expression on Xia Qingning’s face. Sure enough, he saw a look of panic on her face, and then he continued with satisfaction:

“Tell me, what will happen to you if I accidentally spread such a private matter…”

After hearing Liáo Qiáng’s words, Xia Qingning’s brows furrowed deeply. To say she wasn’t scared was a lie. After all, reputation was so important to a woman, especially in this more conservative era.

If she hadn’t been worried about this, she would have directly sent Liáo Qiáng to the police station the first time she met him, instead of just giving him a slap as a lesson.

The current situation was that as long as Liáo Qiáng spread what he had just said, regardless of whether Xia Qingning could explain it clearly, it would be detrimental to her. Even if she eventually sued Liáo Qiáng, her reputation would be ruined.

In the real world, there are many people who choose to take their own lives after being maliciously slandered.

Is it because they don’t want to explain, or they don’t explain? Of course not. It’s because no one would believe them if they explained!

Even if they eventually took the extreme step of proving their innocence with death, after the truth came to light, there would still be some people who would think they deserved it, and they would even say:

“Why don’t they spread rumors about other people, but spread rumors about her? There must be something wrong with her.”

Now that things had come to this, being afraid was useless. Xia Qingning calmed herself down, looked at Liáo Qiáng, and said calmly:

“I told you last time, my husband has come back. I also told you he’s a regiment commander, right?”

“Haha…” Liáo Qiáng didn’t show any fear after hearing her words, instead, he let out a mocking laugh:

“So what if he’s back? I heard he doesn’t want you anymore. He came back this time to divorce you!”

Xia Qingning’s expression froze. She didn’t know where this rumor came from. It seemed that Liáo Qiáng had heard these rumors and had rekindled his evil intentions towards her.

“You can rest assured, we have a very good relationship, and we’re not going to get divorced!” Xia Qingning said with great certainty, then continued:

“Also, you probably don’t know, but it was my husband who saved me after I jumped into the river that day.”

After hearing Xia Qingning’s words, Liáo Qiáng clearly lost his previous arrogance. His expression became surprised and nervous.

After Xia Qingning jumped into the river that day, he didn’t call anyone, but he didn’t leave either. He hid and secretly observed.

He did see a soldier save her, but was it really such a coincidence? Was the person who saved her her husband?

Seeing that he had lost all his confidence, Xia Qingning, with a cold face, continued:

“So many people saw it at the time. I was rescued from the river. If I write a letter of accusation as the wife of a regiment commander in the reserve force, saying that my husband is defending our country on the frontier, but his wife was forced to jump into the river by a hooligan…”

Liáo Qiáng’s face changed drastically, and he immediately interrupted Xia Qingning, arguing:

“What hooligan? What forced you to jump into the river? Just based on what you say, without any evidence, how many people would believe it? Then I can say that you deliberately seduced me to get a better position.”

After Liáo Qiáng finished speaking, he calmed down. He quickly realized that if Xia Qingning really wanted to sue him, she would have done it long ago, and she wouldn’t have waited until now.

The words she just said were just a way to appear calm and scare him.

Women always value their reputation above all else. As long as he held this point, Xia Qingning would have to obey him like before.

Liáo Qiáng was feeling smug, but he noticed that Xia Qingning was very unusual. She didn’t seem to be scared at all. A cold smile appeared on her beautiful face, as if she didn’t care about his threats at all.