Chapter 34: She, Su Hexi, will never bow her head!
Even when she came out with the thin divorce certificate, Su Hexi's face still had no expression, as if she had just completed an insignificant procedure.
She returned to the tailor shop to pack her things. The shop would no longer belong to her tomorrow morning, and she would take her designs with her. As for the rest, it didn't matter anymore.
Zhou Lin spoke with a hoarse and difficult voice: "Where... where are you staying temporarily?"
"It has nothing to do with you!" Su Hexi was filled with alienation and indifference. "We're already divorced. Please stay away from me and don't follow me anymore!"
Just a man, abandoned if she wanted to. In her ambition, there was never any place for men!
Su Hexi turned around, straightened his back, and was the first to walk out of the tailor shop.
Zhou Lin stood at the door like an abandoned stone statue, looking at her resolute back. His heart felt like it was being tortured, and every second was torture.
He knew that he had completely lost her.
Su Hexi was walking on the street when cold raindrops suddenly fell from the sky without any warning. Soon the rain formed into lines and fell down in a steady stream.
Su Hexi ran to a narrow eaves in a panic to shelter from the rain.
Suddenly, a black umbrella was firmly held above her head.
Su Hexi was stunned for a moment and slowly raised his head.
Under the umbrella was Tang Yuelin's face, which looked elegant but chilled her heart. He spoke softly, "Why didn't you tell me you were divorced? I can help you find a place to live."
He naturally thought that Su Hexi's divorce was to clear the obstacles for her to be with him and was a signal of compromise with him.
"You are really well-informed." Su Hexi looked at his self-righteous look and thought that her current situation of having nothing was all thanks to him. A sense of extreme irony and anger surged in her heart.
What did she have to lose now? What did she have to fear?
She curled her lips and sneered in contempt, her tone filled with undisguised sarcasm: "Director Tang, how old are you this year?"
The gentle expression on Tang Yuelin's face froze instantly, his brows slightly furrowed, as if he had not expected her to ask this out of the blue. He opened his mouth with some difficulty: "...forty."
"Forty," Su Hexi repeated, her laughter growing even colder, piercing like ice. "I'm only twenty-one. At your age, it's not too much for me to call you dad, right? Aren't you ashamed standing next to me? Are you so shameless?"
These words are extremely harsh and insulting.
At this moment, Su Hexi was like a hedgehog covered with sharp spines, indiscriminately attacking anyone who approached her, in this way maintaining her last bit of pitiful dignity and pride.
She, Su Hexi, will never bow her head! Even if she has nothing!
Tang Yuelin's face was so gloomy it looked like water could drip out of it, and a hint of sinister anger flashed in his eyes. His fingers tightened slightly around the umbrella handle, but he managed to maintain his composure and not lose his temper. He simply looked at her coldly and said nothing more.
Su Hexi scoffed, turned around without hesitation, and walked back into the cold rain. The drawings in her arms were soaked even more by the rain, but she no longer cared. Without the fabric, these designs she cherished so much would be no different from a pile of waste paper.
The night shift at the textile factory was about to begin, and she still had her temporary worker permit with her, ready to spend the night in the factory.
She changed into her work clothes and walked into the workshop, where she ran into Cai Jinglin who was working the night shift.
Cai Jinglin saw her, her face showing obvious surprise and confusion. Wasn't she divorced? She should have gone to find Tang Yuelin by now, so why did she return to this tiring and humiliating place?
At this time, the workshop director Hu Luyang called her with a sullen face: "Jinglin, come to my office."
Cai Jinglin went to find Hu Luyang.
Hu Luyang said impatiently, "Su Hexi has the lowest production and the highest defective rate! She seriously doesn't meet the factory's requirements! Tell her to leave immediately and never come back again!"
Cai Jinglin couldn't help but interrupt: "Director, she just arrived, some things may not be normal..."
Hu Luyang said sternly, "Let her go immediately! The higher-ups are going to check the employment of temporary workers soon. Temporary workers like her don't have complete files. Let her leave quickly and don't cause trouble for the factory!"
He didn't want to cause trouble for himself, so he had to let Su Hexi go.
Cai Jinglin looked at Su Hexi diligently learning her craft at her workstation and felt strangely uncomfortable. She turned around and asked, "Then... what about her wages? She can't work for nothing, right?"
Hu Luyang snorted coldly: "Isn't the reason I just gave enough? Asking her to leave is already polite!"
Cai Jinglin argued, "Even if the production is low, as long as she comes to work in the factory, she will be paid! Since you asked me to kick her out, then I will pay her wages. Otherwise, you will do this yourself!"
How could Hu Luyang dare to go directly to Su Hexi? He took money from her husband and told her to work for two months. Now, less than a month later, he asked her to leave. If Su Hexi made a fuss, he would be the one to suffer.
Finally, Cai Jinglin handed Su Hexi ten yuan, saying in a complicated tone, "Here, your wages. The factory has been cracking down on temporary workers recently, and you can't stay here any longer."
Su Hexi looked at the wrinkled ten yuan in his hand, then looked up at Cai Jinglin, and suddenly smiled, "You're going to kill me..."
She took off her work clothes and put them on the stool next to her, then took the ten dollars and her money and turned to leave the workshop.
Cai Jinglin looked at her back, hesitated for a moment, and then chased after her for a few steps. She couldn't help but ask, "Su Hexi! Where are you... going next?"
Su Hexi stopped and replied in a cynical, grinning tone, "What's it to you?"
Cai Jinglin was furious at her attitude and glared at her from behind, cursing, "You're really ungrateful! You don't know how kind I am!"
Su Hexi suddenly felt hungry. In the past, she didn't have to worry about eating. When it was time for dinner, Zhou Lin would bring the food to her.
She saw a restaurant called "Home Flavor Dining", but it looked very deserted and there was no one there.
As she entered the deserted restaurant, a woman who looked to be in her forties, with a haggard face and plain, even shabby clothes, came up to her timidly. Her eyes were evasive and her voice was weak: "Sister...sister, do you want to eat? Please sit here."
Su Hexi found a seat by the window and ordered two of the cheapest dishes at random.
The dish arrived quickly, but it looked ordinary, with no oil or water to be seen, and it tasted extremely bad.
She subconsciously thought of Zhou Lin's cooking. His cooking was very much to her taste. He even remembered that she was trying to lose weight and would deliberately use less oil and salt...
A nameless anger, mixed with an inexplicable irritation, welled up in her. She put down her chopsticks with a clatter, her voice low but sharp, demanding, "Madam, what's wrong with this dish? It's awful! I paid for it!"
The proprietress was startled and shrank visibly. She quickly bowed and apologized: "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, sister! How about...how about I change it for you? This one is not charged for you..." Her tone was humble, almost pleading.
"Change? What if it's still like this after I change it?" Su Hexi insisted. She couldn't tell whether she wanted to vent her emotions or was really dissatisfied with the food. "Call your chef out! I want to ask him if he can cook!"
"Don't... don't call the chef..." The proprietress's face turned pale instantly. She waved her hands in panic, her voice tinged with tears. "Sister, please, I'll change you to another one of my specialties. It's delicious, and I really won't charge you..."
As he was speaking, the kitchen curtain was suddenly thrown back, and a man wearing a dirty apron, with a face full of flesh and a cigarette in his mouth, walked out and asked in a gruff voice, "What's the noise? What's going on?"
The proprietress was so frightened that she trembled all over. She quickly stood in front of Su Hexi and smiled apologetically at the man: "No...it's okay, husband, it's just that this girl thought the dish was delicious and wanted to order another one..."
Su Hexi was furious and retorted bluntly, "Boss, you're wrong. I said the food is terrible! Very terrible! You want to charge me for this kind of food? Dream on!"
"You don't want to pay?" The boss's eyes widened. The boss's wife quickly grabbed him and said anxiously, "Forget it, honey, I promised them..."
"Who do you think you are?!" The boss suddenly shook off the boss lady's hand, and in a rage, he raised his foot and kicked the boss lady's calf hard!
"Ah!" The proprietress screamed, staggered and fell to the ground, tears instantly welling up in pain.
Su Hexi was completely stunned! She had never thought that this man would dare to hit someone in broad daylight!
The boss was still not satisfied. He pointed at the proprietress lying on the ground and cursed: "You stinky bitch! Who gave you the right to not charge money? I worked so hard to cook, and you are here to act so generous! No wonder my business can't make it! It turns out that you, a bitch, are the one who ruined my family behind my back!"
The more he cursed, the more unpleasant it became, and he even wanted to go up and hit me again.
"Stop it!" Su Hexi reacted suddenly, rushed forward to block the boss's wife, and glared at the boss, "What are you doing! It's your fault that the dish is not tasty! If you don't cause trouble for yourself, why are you hitting her?!"
The boss was so angry that his face turned red and his neck thickened. He roared, "There's nothing wrong with my cooking! It's you, a woman, who doesn't know how to appreciate it! You poor bastard, yet you're so picky!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
