Chapter 41

Du Gen glanced at Lin Qingping, who was calmly working, and could only comfort his wife and child: “Don’t say anything. Let’s just do as Pingzi does.”

What else could Gu Youlian say? Lin Qingping was working earnestly and completely oblivious to her surroundings… An entire afternoon passed. 

Lin Qingping and her two companions worked non-stop in the workshop for the whole afternoon without taking a break, while the other workers treated the workshop like a game room, playing and having fun all afternoon, leaving a floor full of sunflower seed shells. As soon as the clock signaled the end of the workday, they all left. 

Section Chief Fu walked up to Lin Qingping with an apologetic expression. “I’m really sorry, Comrade Lin. You can go home now, and there’s food in the canteen.”

He had wanted to help in the afternoon, but he didn’t know how! 

“No worries!” Lin Qingping smiled: “Starting a business isn’t difficult. I told you, just leave it to me!” The challenges she faced in her past life were far greater than this. 

“By the way, Section Chief Fu, could you do me a favor?” Lin Qingping took out some paper and a pen. 

“Of course! Anything I can do, I’ll certainly help!” Section Chief Fu was eager to assist Lin Qingping in any way he could. 

Lin Qingping chuckled at his enthusiasm. “It’s not that serious. I just want to know what kind of connections the leaders who caused the most trouble earlier have in the factory. Could you help me write it down?” 

“Got it!” This was easy for Section Chief Fu. He quickly wrote it down. 

After Lin Qingping looked at the diagram of relationships he drew, she had a rough idea in her mind. The factory was still relatively polite to them. Although they were temporary workers, they were arranged to stay in the single dormitory and were provided with canteen meal tickets. 

After finishing their meal with the meal tickets, Lin Qingping and her two companions returned to the dormitory to rest.

On the first day of their arrival, after the exhausting journey and a full afternoon of work, Lin Qingping was truly tired. After washing up, she went to sleep. This left Gu Youlian anxious, her heart burning with worry, but she dared not ask Lin Qingping. Instead, she sighed repeatedly in her room while talking with Du Gen. 

The next morning, Lin Qingping was up early and went straight to the workshop. There, she worked diligently with Gu Youlian, cutting and sewing. However, Du Gen was nowhere to be seen. The other workers, on the other hand, spent the entire day chatting away in the workshop. 

The same thing happened on the third day—Du Gen was still absent. After a long day of work, Lin Qingping and Gu Youlian went to the canteen for their meal. As they passed by, everyone they encountered seemed to be mocking them. 

“I thought they had some skills, but it turns out they’re just working like draft horses!” 

“Hahaha! Thousands of pieces of clothing! Let’s see how long they can keep this up!” 

“Those country bumpkins used their looks to get Section Chief Fu to run circles around him, and now they think they can fool us!” 

“Exactly! What do they think they’re doing? Ordering us around like this? They should go back to the countryside!” 

“Ugh!” A few women even spat on the ground in the direction where Lin Qingping was standing. 

Lin Qingping pretended not to notice and continued to stand in line, waiting to get her meal. When it was finally their turn, Lin Qingping was just about to hand over her meal box when several people suddenly pushed their way forward, shouting: “Move aside, move aside, it’s time to get food!” They shoved Lin Qingping and Gu Youlian aside. 

Lin Qingping quietly stepped back a few paces, letting them go ahead. However, after these people left, when Lin Qingping tried again to hand her meal box over, another group of people pushed forward, shoving her aside once more. 

Gu Youlian could no longer stand it. With her hands on her hips, she demanded: “What do you mean by this?” 

“What do I mean?” The man who had caused the most trouble in the workshop turned around with a grin: “We’re getting food, what do you think? Can’t you see?” 

Lin Qingping had already learned his name—his name was Feng Debao.

Lin Qingping wanted to pull Gu Youlian away to avoid further conflict, but Gu Youlian was already so enraged that she couldn’t hold back. “Why are you cutting in line to get food? We’ve been waiting for so long! Everyone else is lining up—why do you think you don’t need to?” 

“Why?” Feng Debao sneered, his face full of mockery. “Because you’re just country bumpkins! Because you’re temporary workers! You don’t deserve to eat ahead of us! Go to the back and wait your turn!”

“You… don’t go too far!” Gu Youlian shouted angrily.

“I heard country people don’t even bathe for a whole month. Is that true? You must stink!” 

“Ugh! You reek! Like pig manure! You really stink!” 

“You… you are too much!” Gu Youlian was on the verge of tears.

If it had been her usual temper, she would have screamed and fought, pulling hair and tearing into them, but now, she didn’t dare.

She admitted to herself that she was from the countryside, and she feared losing face in front of these city workers. More than that, she feared embarrassing Lin Qingping, even ruining her reputation. 

She looked back, hoping to catch a glimpse of Lin Qingping’s reaction and figure out what to do next. However, when she turned around, Lin Qingping was no longer behind her. 

“What? Looking for help?” The man who had been mocking her grinned. “That country girl must’ve realized how badly she stinks and ran off!” 

“Hahaha! Yeah, went off to take a bath, huh?”

“What a pity! No matter how many times she washes, that pig manure smell won’t go away!” 

“You…” 

Gu Youlian faltered. She couldn’t bring herself to eat the meal anymore. She admitted to herself that she felt guilty, insecure. She was afraid to offend these city folk.

But just as she was about to turn and run away, a terrible stench wafted toward her. Her vision blurred, and before she could make sense of what was happening, the men who had been mocking her started screaming loudly.

When Gu Youlian looked closely, she saw that Feng Debao’s entire head and face were drenched in filthy water.

The other men who had been mocking her were also splattered with a good amount. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was Lin Qingping who had somehow gotten a bucket of dirty water, and in her hand, she held a ladle.

She had already thrown one ladle’s worth of water, and now she was standing by the bucket with a cold expression, looking utterly imposing. 

The men were disgusted beyond belief, especially Feng Debao. He opened his mouth to curse, but as soon as he did, the filthy water on his face poured into his mouth, and he immediately started vomiting.

“You dirty woman… ugh… I’m going to… ugh… kill you… ugh…” He couldn’t even finish his curse before Lin Qingping threw another ladle of filthy water directly into his mouth, effectively giving him a whole bowl of dirty water soup.

Immediately, the people who were lining up for food or watching from the sidelines instinctively stepped back, distancing themselves as much as they could while still keeping an eye on the commotion. Feng Debao couldn’t say a word anymore, hunched over on the ground, vomiting uncontrollably.

Lin Qingping stood tall, holding the ladle like a battle goddess. “Does it stink? Is it the smell of pig manure? Or is it the smell of filthy water?”

Feng Debao was unable to respond. His lackeys, seeing what Lin Qingping was doing, realized that the water had been aimed at them mocking her as smelling like pig manure. Panicking, they quickly waved their hands or shook their heads. 

“It doesn’t stink, really, it doesn’t!” they pleaded.

Lin Qingping sneered. “Oh really? Well, then try the taste again!”

She scooped another ladle of filthy water, preparing to throw it again. The men almost started crying. “No, no, we were wrong! It stinks! It stinks!” 

One of them, trying to sneak up from behind, made a move to grab the bucket and ladle from Lin Qingping. However, Lin Qingping spotted him and, without hesitation, swung the ladle in a swift motion, pouring the filthy water all over him from head to toe.