Chapter 19 The Girl Who Swallowed Her Pride

"I... I don't know how to fix this. I'm sorry. Xiao Jin has always had a bad temper. I apologize to you on his behalf."
Chai Fang's delicate frame trembled slightly.
In the darkness beneath the moonlight, with not a soul around, a sense of utter helplessness consumed the fragile girl's heart.
Liu Fengxian bared her rotten teeth in a broad laugh. "An apology?"
"If apologies could solve everything, why would we need the police?"
"Kneel down!"
"Auntie, we're neighbors."
"Kneel! Neighbors, my foot. You took forever to pay back a hundred yuan. I’ve never had such shameless neighbors as your family!"
In truth, when Chai Minguo’s situation was better, their families weren't close, but they weren't enemies either.
Otherwise, why would Liu Fengxian’s husband have lent Chai Minguo money in the first place?
Of course, the money lent was with interest. Chai Minguo originally borrowed just ten yuan, but Liu Fengxian had jacked up the interest until it became a hundred.
So, in reality, this so-called hundred-yuan debt didn't exist at all.
Without another word, Liu Fengxian kicked Chai Fang hard in the knees. Chai Fang was no match for this shrew, and with Liu Jun helping, she was forced to the ground.
Flush with a rare sense of power, Liu Fengxian couldn’t restrain herself. She slapped Chai Fang twice across the face.
"Remember this, you and your brother may get jobs at the distillery, but your family will never have a chance to stand tall in front of me."
"I’m not someone you can cross. Your father Chai Minguo knows my temper!"
"Disgusting, shameless lot. If I were you, I’d have left this village long ago!"
With that, she spat a thick glob onto Chai Fang’s clothes.
Tears streamed down Chai Fang’s cheeks, making her look heartbreakingly frail beneath the moonlight.
Having vented her anger, Liu Fengxian finally felt satisfied and was about to have Liu Jun let her go.
But Liu Jun, who was pinning Chai Fang down, suddenly froze.
They were the same age, had grown up together in the same village.
Yet now, Liu Jun was surprised to find that beneath Chai Fang’s disheveled hair, her features stirred his heart.
Her nose was straight and high-bridged, and viewed from above, her double-lidded eyes were slightly upturned at the corners, surrounded by a natural blush.
It was as if he was seeing Chai Fang for the first time.
Her beauty was not inferior to Wang Xiaoli’s; only her poverty meant she never bothered to dress up.
No one had ever truly noticed her before.
Looking further down, Liu Jun’s gaze lingered on her upright torso.
A surge of lust rose in him, and he swallowed hard.

Liu Fengxian, seeing her nephew’s inaction, turned and snapped, "Xiao Jun, what are you up to?"
Liu Jun snapped out of his trance. "Auntie, maybe I could..."
Liu Fengxian was not naïve; she instantly understood her nephew's intent.
She frowned, thinking it over. "Is this really a good idea? What if someone passes by?"
"Auntie, it’s fine. There’s a haystack over there. Just keep watch for me."
"It’ll be quick."
Without waiting, he began dragging Chai Fang toward the haystack.
Chai Fang’s mind went blank; she never imagined Liu Jun would dare have such thoughts toward her.
They were from the same village, had grown up together.
Once she realized what was happening, Chai Fang’s integrity flared fiercely.
She summoned all her strength and flung off Liu Jun’s filthy hand.
Then she fled desperately toward her house.
With his prey slipping away at the last moment, Liu Jun was furious and ready to chase after her.
But Liu Fengxian, now composed, stopped him. "Let it go, Xiao Jun."
"Don’t risk driving Chai Minguo mad."
"But Auntie, I can’t stand it. When did Chai Fang become so beautiful? I never noticed before."
Liu Fengxian frowned. "Beautiful, my foot. Can’t you have a little ambition? Even someone like her interests you?"
"Don’t be a fool. Their Chai family isn’t worthy of us Liu’s."
After fidgeting a while, Liu Jun finally gave up.
Once he calmed down, worry crept in.
"Auntie, do you think Chai Fang will tell her father? But I didn’t actually do anything..."
"And what if she does? Is he going to cause a scene under my nose?"
With a kick, she sent Chai Fang’s abandoned eel trap flying into the ditch.
The few eels Chai Fang had worked so hard to catch wriggled away into the water.
Chai Fang was the kind of girl who kept everything bottled inside.
When she returned home, everyone was already asleep.
She stood outside the house and wept a long time before heading to the pond to scrub the mud from her clothes.
Inside her room, she buried her head under the quilt and said nothing.
Before long, Chai Jin returned as well.
Hearing nothing from within, he moved quietly, not daring to make a sound.
He was exhausted, and soon fell asleep.

He had no idea what humiliation his sister had just endured in the fields.
The next morning, Chai Fang’s eyes were terribly swollen.
Chai Jin asked if something had happened, but Chai Fang only forced a smile and said it was nothing.
There was a trace of anguish in her smile.
She didn’t dare tell her brother, knowing that if he found out, no one could predict what might ensue in the village.
She didn’t want to drag him down.
Chai Jin saw that his sister wouldn’t say more, so he didn’t press the matter.
At breakfast, Chai Jin told Chai Minguo about getting him a job at the distillery.
For the first time in years, a smile appeared on the weary middle-aged man's face.
His son had finally grown up; his eyes grew moist.
"It’s been hard on you, Xiao Jin. It’s my fault as a father."
Chai Jin replied, "Stop saying that all the time. Why not lease out those few mu of fields and work at the distillery?"
Chai Minguo thought it over carefully, but in the end, refused.
His reason: living in the countryside, how could one not farm?
Those fields were left by your grandfather. When he died, he said our family’s land must never lie fallow.
His father's stubbornness was something Chai Jin understood well.
He tried to persuade him, but it was no use; such beliefs don’t change overnight. He had to let it go.
By the time he returned to the factory, it was already past nine.
Everyone was there; out of seventy or eighty people, twenty or thirty would soon be dismissed.
All those people had, at one time or another, bullied the Chai family.
Others might say Chai Jin was reckless, narrow-minded, letting personal grudges interfere with business, especially when business was so good.
But Chai Jin was anything but impulsive.
First, during his recent travels, he’d already lined up nearly fifty or sixty new workers, all of whom would start within three days—so there would be no labor shortage.
Second, if he abandoned his principles just to earn a little more money, if he could forget how these people had once oppressed his family, then what was the point of making money at all?
Principles could not be compromised, and Chai Jin felt no affection for the village.
The factory workers all filed out into the yard.
Zhang Aiming glanced outside and spotted that loathsome aunt and nephew whispering together in the crowd.
Something occurred to him, and he asked, "Xiao Jin, last night, did your sister walk home alone through the fields behind the factory?"