Chapter 46

Qiao Yougen and Qian Chunhua gritted their teeth. They had thought that coming as a family today, they could give Qiao Xinyi and the others a good lesson. But unexpectedly, it was they who got lectured by Qiao Xinyi. Qiao Yougen and the others couldn’t understand it — where did a young girl like Qiao Xinyi get so much strength?

Originally, they planned to make her behave obediently, then take her to the factory gate the next morning and have her apologize to the two of them in front of their coworkers. Afterwards, they would explain to the neighbors on their street that it was Qiao Xinyi, their niece, who had a bad temper and misunderstood things.

But never did they expect that three of them combined couldn’t beat Qiao Xinyi alone, and now they were once again being threatened by her.

When Qiao Xinyi counted to one, Qiao Yougen was almost biting his teeth to pieces.

“Sister-in-law, dear niece, we’re sorry,” Qiao Yougen said with a hypocritical, fake smile. “This marriage proposal was just something we mentioned to you, we never forced you to marry. You’ve misunderstood us too much.”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Qian Chunhua quickly chimed in, “We only wanted what’s best for you. The groom’s family really has a good situation. You have no job and never went to school, so finding such a good husband’s family can guarantee you a life of comfort. But we don’t know where you heard all those ridiculous rumors to have such a big misunderstanding about us.”

“No matter what, we are your elders. We won’t hold grudges against a young girl like you. It’s the fault of me and your uncle, and we solemnly apologize to you,” Qian Chunhua finished speaking, feeling much relieved inside. Apologizing was one thing, but after apologizing, she wanted to see how much reputation Qiao Xinyi still had. She could also take the opportunity to explain to everyone that the problem was caused by Qiao Xinyi’s bad temper and misunderstandings.

Qiao Xinyi snorted, “So you’re trying to play word games with me, huh?”

“I’m in a hurry, I’m not going to play along,” she said, hands in pockets, then turned to the onlookers. “Brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, grandmas, grandpas, does anyone know where the steel mill director lives? Whoever’s willing to tell me, I’ll give two yuan as thanks.”

If it were a free question, most people wouldn’t want to get involved in someone else’s family affairs. But if two yuan could be earned with one sentence, everyone would be scrambling to help.

The director Huang saw everyone eager to speak and quickly said, “Young comrade, don’t ask anymore, I’m right here.”

He really didn’t want her to find out where he lived — he was afraid she might really go hang herself at his door late at night.

Director Huang came out and stared at Qiao Yougen and Qian Chunhua several times. The steel mill was huge; unless an employee was exceptionally outstanding, Huang wouldn’t remember them well. Especially grassroots workers like Qiao Yougen and Qian Chunhua, Huang had even less impression.

He didn’t know about the flyers either — he had been away all day on a business trip, just came back to meet old friends, and unexpectedly ran into a matter involving steel mill workers at the textile factory’s residential area.

“Can someone help me figure this out? I’ve been listening for a bit but still don’t understand what happened.”

At that moment, Aunt Zhang volunteered, “I’m a neighbor of the Qiao family, I know this matter well, I’ll tell you.”

Aunt Zhang was eloquent, saying nothing unnecessary, and explained clearly everything from what happened at the Qiao family last night, to Qiao Xinyi distributing flyers today, to Qiao Yougen bringing the family to bully Chen Yubing.

After finishing, she picked up the flyer from the ground and handed it to Director Huang. “This is the flyer. I, Zhang Hua, swear on my integrity that not a single word on this paper is false.”

“Zhang Hua, what kind of character do you have that you dare to guarantee with your reputation?” Qian Chunhua’s face went pale, completely caught off guard by the director’s presence.

“I guarantee it with my character as someone who doesn’t sell her niece for personal gain!” Zhang Hua puffed out her chest. “I, Zhang Hua, never do anything immoral!”

Director Huang felt a headache coming on after hearing this. What a mess — how did even the new production director get dragged into this?

Of course, Director Huang knew about the new production director’s family situation; he wasn’t a fool. Naturally, he suspected that Qiao Yougen and his wife must have some shady dealings with that director behind the scenes. Thinking about it that way, those two really were unscrupulous, introducing their own niece to such a family for their own benefit?

“You two are so disgraceful you’ve brought shame all the way to the workers’ housing!” Director Huang shook the flyer in his hand. “Aren’t you going to apologize to the young comrade?”

Qiao Yougen and Qian Chunhua quietly replied, one after the other, “But we just apologized, didn’t we?”

Director Huang laughed angrily, “Don’t treat people like fools, thinking a few words can fool someone! Wrong is wrong. If you did something wrong, you should show that you know it.”

He then threw the flyer back at Qiao Yougen’s face. “I’m embarrassed to have employees like you in this factory! You come to my office tomorrow morning!”

Qiao Yougen and Qian Chunhua turned pale, then heard Director Huang continue, “Bring your production director along, too!”

It was clear Director Huang wanted to investigate this matter personally. The two of them looked even worse.

“Director! This matter has nothing to do with the production director. It was just our foolish idea to try to get close to him,” Qiao Yougen hurriedly said.

This was really a private family matter for the Qiao family. If it weren’t for Qiao Xinyi causing such a scene at the factory, it wouldn’t have affected Qiao Yougen and his wife at all. But if the production director got involved, and even Director Huang wanted to see the production director personally, Qiao Yougen and Qian Chunhua thought grimly, this was really bad.

Even if it didn’t lead to their dismissal, the production director would definitely hold this against them. They still had to work under the director, so how could they expect any favor afterward?

“Whether it’s related or not, I’ll ask personally tomorrow,” Director Huang waved his hand. “The young comrade and her family are waiting for your apology. Hurry up, don’t waste everyone’s time.”

With Director Huang standing there supporting Qiao Xinyi, no matter how scheming Qiao Yougen and Qian Chunhua were, they dared not continue their tricks. They could only lower their heads and say sorry.

Compared to their previous apology, this one had no wordplay or clever rhetoric. They didn’t dare to try their usual tactics against Qiao Xinyi in front of Director Huang.

The factory matter was finally settled, and Director Huang patted Qiao Xinyi’s shoulder in comfort, then quickly withdrew without saying another word.

Once Director Huang left, Qiao Yougen’s family slunk away. Today, they got nothing out of it and even got beaten up for nothing.

After the crowd dispersed, Chen Yubing immediately grabbed Qiao Xinyi’s hand with concern, “Does your hand hurt?”

“Big sister’s hand is so strong~” Qiao Yunbai exclaimed. “I just saw big sister slap Qiao Jizu’s face, and his face swelled up like a pig’s head. Big sister’s palm print looked like a painting on his face.”