10. Save yourself from danger again and again
Zhang Chenling guessed half right. The reason why Ni Yue got angry at Uncle Qian's son was because she was putting herself in his shoes.
However, what Zhang Chenling didn't know was that Ni Yue's "self" had been damaged, ignored, and trampled on the ground to a degree far beyond imagination.
Ni Yue once wanted to seal that memory deep in her heart and not mention it to anyone, but her cousin's gentle touch on the head directly broke down her firmly built psychological defenses.
After a long sigh, she stared at me with innocent tears in her eyes and said, "I never knew how to tell you about this."
"What's up?"
“I was opened.”
"Open the box?" Zhang Chenling's first reaction was, "Open a blind box?"
Ni Yue shook his head and smiled bitterly, "I was stripped naked in Beijing, and I couldn't stand it any longer, so I came to Shanghai."
The more Zhang Chenling listened, the more confused she became. "What on earth is going on?"
"My ex-boyfriend, who I just broke up with, is a client of our early childhood education institution."
"Is his child studying at your place?" Zhang Chenling unconsciously narrowed her eyes. She had a bad feeling. "Don't tell me he's married!"
"That's what happened..."
"ha?!"
"No, no, no! Don't be so quick to scold me. I only knew about it two weeks earlier than you!"
"...You've been cheated on?!"
It was nothing but shock.
Ni Yue herself found it difficult to face the whole thing, let alone tell others about it. Every time she said a word, she felt like she was slapping herself in the face, and her face was burning.
The sunset that day was beautiful. The afterglow of the setting sun shone into the tea room through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, giving everything a light golden hue.
Ni Yue turned his face to the side, staring at the sunset in a daze.
“It’s full, it’s full!”
It was not until she heard a magnetic male voice kindly reminding her from behind that she came to her senses. Her Stanley thermos, which was as big as a kettle, was already full of water and would have overflowed if she had been a second late.
She was thankful, carefully picked up the cup and took a sip, then turned around while twisting the lid.
Unexpectedly, I met a pair of fiery eyes.
The man had been staring at her for a long time.
The two people started chatting naturally. He said his name was Zhou Yanan and his daughter was learning English in this early education institution. After a few greetings, he took the initiative to add Ni Yue's WeChat.
Later, he told Ni Yue that he was a single father.
Later, he began to pursue her madly...
Ni Yue looked embarrassed. "Coincidentally, he is also my type, so we got together very quickly."
When Zhang Chenling was working as a housekeeper, she had witnessed many scandals in clients' homes. Thinking about this incident, it was no different from the typical pattern of a rich, scumbag cheating on his wife. Her expression became indifferent. "So, he's got a mistress in his house?"
"He had an apartment in Chaoyang District, and I moved in with him for a few months. It was like...keeping him as a mistress, I guess."
"So you and your scumbag wife never knew about each other's existence? Her daughter never told you about her mother?"
Ni Yue shook his head. "I only found out later that they had a son."
"ha?!"
"Well, their son is attending middle school in the United States, and his wife has been accompanying him all year round. Their daughter is young and left in China, living with her grandparents most of the time. So he always drops his daughter off first before coming to the apartment to see me. When we were together, because of the time difference, his wife and son never looked for him, so I was completely unaware of their existence until three weeks ago."
Ni Yue paused briefly, his voice becoming hoarse. "I found myself in a whistleblower presentation..."
“Report PPT?!”
Zhang Chenling felt as if her brain exploded.
Ni Yue slumped in the chair, like an eggplant hit by frost. She was completely different from the girl who had previously blasted the guy who flirted with her outside "Whispering BB" and tore apart Uncle Qian's stupid son with her bare hands at his house.
It turns out that the scumbag has cheated on many women during his marriage over the years, including several teachers, including his son's teacher, daughter's teacher, early childhood education teacher, dance teacher, music teacher...
Although his wife was in the United States, there were spies all over the country who had a lot of evidence of infidelity. Ni Yue was followed and investigated without his knowledge. Not only was his personal information stripped away, but many photos of his daily life were also taken.
A while ago, the wife of this scumbag returned to China, determined to divorce him. To force him out of the house, she compiled a 100-page PowerPoint presentation using the information on about a dozen of his cheating partners...
As the scumbag’s latest girlfriend, Ni Yue was placed last and was the finale.
The PPT first went viral in the financial circle, and because it involved early childhood education teachers, the early childhood education circle exploded... Then, it also became a hot topic on social platforms such as Xiaohongshu, Weibo, and Douyin.
Although the incident happened to Ni Yue, Zhang Chenling felt as if she had been smeared with shit. She felt embarrassed and disgusted. "So this is why you lost your job?"
Ni Yue nodded, and tears flowed silently from the corners of his eyes again.
The PPT was sent to her boss that same day, and she was fired on the spot without even having a chance to explain.
"The day before, he was praising me, saying my course planning was great, but in the blink of an eye, I became the company's disgrace, and everyone was eager to distance themselves from me... When I walked out of the office that day, I felt like everyone was pointing fingers at me and scolding me... Cousin, tell me the truth, do you look down on me too?"
Ni Yue has always believed that the reason why Zhang Chenling recognized her as her cousin and was willing to keep in close contact with her was because she was not like those half-baked people in her hometown.
She worked hard enough and was good enough to make her cousin look at her differently.
However, when her morals show "flaws", will her cousin still recognize and like her as before?
Ironically, just now, she was the subject of a moral trial.
Now, I have willingly become an object.
However, Zhang Chenling did not want to judge the person in front of her.
She pinched Ni Yue's wrists hard and said, "Don't think like that. You are the victim. How could I look down on you? And when you first got together with him, you thought he was a single father and was willing to be his stepmother. You are really brave!"
After a pause, he added, "Although it's a bit tiger-like."
Ni Yue smiled bitterly with tears in her eyes and continued peeling the onion. "Actually, I was with him because of my vanity. The first time he took me to his apartment, I saw an oversized triangular jacuzzi in the bathroom and I immediately couldn't walk..."
Thinking back carefully, there were some things about Zhou Yanan that seemed off. She'd often go on business trips and stay away for days at a time. She'd told Ni Yue not to chat with her daughter, saying she was too young and there would be plenty of opportunities to develop a relationship. And she'd often sneak off to the bathroom to make phone calls...
If we really dig deeper into these clues, we will definitely be able to uncover the truth.
"...But at that time I chose not to over-interpret it. I chose to believe that he really fell in love with me because he glanced at me for a second in the crowd. I was so vain and stupid!"
"No!" Zhang Chenling immediately rebuked her. "You dare to analyze yourself and face your inner desires. You're much more genuine than others! Besides, vanity is human nature. Everyone is vain! Who doesn't like a handsome, handsome, and wealthy man? Who doesn't like a big triangular bathtub? ... If it were me, I'd probably max out several of his credit cards by shopping online while soaking in the bath!"
Seeing his cousin trying hard to align the granularity with his own, Ni Yue laughed.
But there were tears in the corners of her eyes, and she looked so pitiful as she cried and laughed at the same time.
Zhang Chenling's mouth was dry from talking, but she didn't bother to drink water. Her speech was getting faster and faster. "In this matter, you shouldn't be the target of public criticism at all. The culprit is that scumbag surnamed Zhou! You, his wife, and the other girls on the PPT, you are all victims. It's just that his wife, the victim, has become the perpetrator. Her actions have caused you secondary harm! So, even if Zhou cheated on her so many times, I won't sympathize with her as much as I sympathize with you!"
Ni Yue felt deeply touched by her cousin's blatant preference. She wiped the tears from her eyes and murmured, "Thank goodness you're in Shanghai, otherwise I might have died!"
"Pah, pah, pah!" Zhang Chenling spat at her, "Don't talk nonsense."
"real!"
Ni Yue wasn't exaggerating. The night before she came to Shanghai, she wandered for a long time by the Liangma River below her apartment building. The scumbag had vanished from the face of the earth after the incident, not only completely gone, but without even an apology or explanation. Staring at the flickering lights on the river, she thought of her own disillusioned life and suddenly felt that it would be best to just let it all end...
However, before she died, she wanted to say goodbye to the people she cared about most, so she opened WeChat and clicked on the landscape avatar in the top chat.
I clearly just wanted to leave a voice message in a calm tone: Cousin, I'm going on a long journey, please don't miss me too much in the future.
But somehow, I made a voice call. After the ringing lasted a few seconds, the call was connected. When I heard my cousin's familiar voice, the emotions suppressed in my chest suddenly turned into a wail, "Cousin, I'm going to Shanghai to find you!"
…
"Alright, alright, alright, it's okay, it's okay!" Zhang Chenling patted her shoulder and coaxed her. "You've already made it through this hurdle. Don't dwell on it anymore! Now that you're in Shanghai, start over here. On behalf of Shanghai, I welcome you!"
As he said that, he gave Ni Yue a big hug.
Being favored, understood, and encouraged is the happiest thing in the world. Ni Yue leaned on her cousin's shoulder and choked up as she thanked him: "Xia Xia Nong."
Before Zhang Chenling could finish her words, she struck while the iron was hot, "You have to remember, the lower you are in life, the more you must strive for self-improvement and rescue yourself from danger time and time again. Otherwise, you'll truly be wallowing in the cesspool your entire life, unable to turn over!"
The first batch of customers of Shangshanruoshui have started to repurchase.
This is of course inseparable from Zhang Chenling's work. She calls every customer to make a follow-up visit and express her condolences one by one.
The daughter of depressed Aunt Xu and the son of grumpy Mr. Deng Wang have both made appointments for follow-up bathing assistance services. However, for families with relatively ordinary or less favorable conditions, the next bathing assistance service may be scheduled for two weeks later, or even longer.
Fortunately, they also have some other income.
The nursing home bathing assistance training that Xiao Ma Ge and Ni Yue discussed at the "Old People's Expo" last time has been implemented.
The three of them spent a whole day visiting several nursing homes, giving four or five lectures from morning to night, and also learned some experience in caring for the elderly and running nursing homes.
After returning to the city in the evening, Xiao Ma Ge asked his wife for a rare day off, and the three of them went to an old Beijing copper pot hot pot restaurant in Xuhui District to reward their stomachs.
During the dinner, Xiao Ma Ge lamented that different professions are like different worlds, and caring for the elderly is much more difficult than housekeeping!
Zhang Chenling said of course, but don't be discouraged. After the non-competition period is over, she can contact more of her previous housekeeping customers.
Both Zhang Chenling and Xiao Ma Ge signed non-compete agreements with the new owners of the housekeeping company. One of the clauses was very strict, requiring them [not to contact the company's clients to sell any related products and services within two years after leaving the company].
Of course, there is a grey area here, and [related products and services] are not clearly defined.
But Zhang Chenling knew that the new boss was having a hard time, so she had to be more careful with her words and actions at this time and not get herself into trouble.
Besides, she has been away for more than a year, and in a few months it will be two years. If she holds on a little longer, she will get through it.
However, most of his previous customers were well-off middle-class people. He wasn't sure how many of them would become bathing assistance customers.
Going from 0 to 1 is the most difficult. Zhang Chenling encouraged him that no matter what, the business is now slowly getting on track and everyone should have confidence in the future!
…
The copper pot in front of him was emitting steam, his nostrils were filled with the delicious aroma of hand-cut lamb, and his ears were filled with the heated discussions of his teammates, but Ni Yue was absent-minded and kept swiping his phone with his thumb.
These days she seemed to be possessed by a poison, frequently refreshing the online writing app.
Actually, it’s not too frequent, maybe two or three hundred times a day!
Instead of checking whether Sister Running Ball has updated her posts, she would frequently click on the homepage of the “Lantern Goddess” to check her latest updates.
The "Lantern Goddess" has not had any interaction with Ni Yue for several days.
They broke up completely.
A few days ago, Ni Yue was lying in bed, writing a short essay about bathing assistance for the day on his memo, when suddenly, a message reminder from an online writing app popped up on his phone.
When I clicked on it, I saw it was a private message from the "Lantern Goddess". She responded to Ni Yue's declaration of war!
Sure enough, the tone is exactly the same as Lao Deng's in the comment section:
Hello, Mr. Ni! I'm glad to hear from you. I mean no harm, but with all due respect, you caught my attention because many of your comments are so naive, making me think you're a bit overly romantic, to the point where I'm worried you might be hurt by a man like the male lead in real life... If my words make you uncomfortable, I won't comment again. However, if you'd like to discuss this in person, I'd be happy to do so.
——Is it my fault?
Ni Yue was so angry that he couldn't speak.
However, she had just experienced two fights and was exhausted both physically and mentally. She didn't want to waste a single word with anyone on any topic.
She decided to leave it at that.
Lantern Goddess, I appreciate your kindness. I don't agree with your views, but I respect your freedom of expression in the comments section. I just ask that you refrain from @ing me again. I won't read or respond. Of course, there's no need for us to meet in person to discuss this. Let's end this here. No need to reply.
Ten minutes later, another one was added:
BTW, I’m not in love, thank you!
The last public update of the "Lantern Goddess" was her fatherly lecturing to Mr. Ni a few days ago, and there has been no movement since then.
Could it be that this female singer has really retired from singing? ...
After not arguing for a few days, Ni Yue felt empty inside.
Looking through the records of past fights, seeing words like "Stockholm syndrome", "scumbag attraction", and "masochism", it doesn't seem so heartbreaking anymore.
To be honest, Ni Yue herself felt that she did have a little bit of the above characteristics, well, just a little bit.
In a trance, a familiar and strange voice suddenly sounded in my mind:
"On the third day after the goddess disappeared, I missed her, missed her, missed her..."
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