Chapter 10: The Annoying Supervisor

“Little sister, you go out for a moment. I need to check your brother’s physical condition.”

Li Yan hesitated, lingering and glancing between the manager and Cao Yang. What kind of nonsense was this physical check? It was clearly just an excuse to ogle Cao Yang’s… well, maybe they even intended to take advantage of him.

She was torn. She wasn’t sure if Cao Yang genuinely didn’t know what public relations work entailed or if he was just pretending not to know.

Any normal person would know that a monthly salary of eight thousand yuan wasn’t for an ordinary job; Cao Yang should have known that.

But he had such a strong reaction when he mistakenly thought she was a prostitute—is it reasonable to assume he was willing to become a gigolo himself?

Could he be a double standard hypocrite?

“Come on, hurry up, little sister,” the manager urged.

Cao Yang shrugged carelessly, “It’s fine, wait for me outside for two minutes.”

Li Yan stepped out and sat down, her mind in a whirl.

Villagers had called Cao Yang to come rely on her, and now she was thinking of pushing him into selling himself—that didn’t feel right.

The main thing was, if Cao Yang really understood what public relations involved, it would be one thing. But what if he didn’t, and got tangled up in something without realizing it, then blamed her for not warning him?

Thinking this over, she wanted to go back in to pull him away.

Whether he knew or not, she had to explain everything to him.

And this manager—they were meeting for the first time, and he hadn’t offered her any benefits, yet he was already trying to take advantage of Cao Yang’s innocence!

Why was that fair? She hadn’t even gotten a taste herself!

She stood up to knock on the door, but before she could reach out, it swung open.

“Let’s go, quick!” Cao Yang grabbed her hand and dashed out like the wind.

“Damn you! You bastard! Damn your ancestors!” came the furious shouts from the manager behind them, so angry that he even cursed in the Sichuan dialect.

The two ran until the Nightingale Club was out of sight, then stopped.

“What did you do? Why was she yelling at you?” Li Yan clutched her chest, panting.

“That woman’s a pervert. She told me to… you know! I almost threw up—it smelled so fishy and foul!” Cao Yang said, still shaken.

“I just said it smelled bad, and she started cursing at me!” He looked wronged.

Li Yan punched him lightly. “Do you even know what public relations means?”

“Nope.”

“You idiot. Public relations means being a gigolo—selling yourself.”

“What?!” Cao Yang exploded in anger. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? If I had known, I’d have beaten up that woman. How dare she try to make me sell myself!”

“Enough already. They only sent you because they think highly of you; most people couldn’t even do this job.”

“You’re really something. If you don’t want to do it, just say so. Why insult her by saying she stinks? That’s harsh.”

“Now that you say that, I don’t even know if I should go to work tomorrow. I’m scared I’ll run into her—it’ll be awkward.”

“What? You still want to go to work?”

“What else? If I don’t work, how will I eat and drink?”

“Change jobs. No more nightclubs. Come work with me in a factory and suffer.”

“Are you crazy? You know I’m going to be a waitress, and you’re still nagging? If you like suffering, go suffer yourself. Don’t drag me into it!”

“I don’t care. You’re not going.”

“You’re so bossy, acting like the sky’s ruler. Did your mom ever tell you who you listen to when you’re away from home—me or you?”

“She said to listen to you.”

“Then shut up. I’m going to work tomorrow.”

“I don’t care. If you go, I’ll—”

“I’ll what?”

“I’ll tell your mom and the village you work at a nightclub.”

“What’s wrong with that? I’m a waitress, not a prostitute!”

“Heh… I’ll say you go there. Whether you’re a waitress or a prostitute, you explain that to the village.”

“Cao Yang, I really regret taking you in.”

…

Because of Cao Yang’s threat, Li Yan reluctantly gave in. She knew how the villagers’ tongues worked—if Cao Yang said something, they’d believe it. Who knew how they’d twist the story? She didn’t care for herself, but she worried about her parents.

The two found a job at an electronics factory and started work that very night.

In those days, there were many jobs. As long as you didn’t mind the conditions or pay, finding work was easy. Factories also hired readily.

When Li Yan first came to Guangdong, she had worked in a factory, so she was skilled. Plus, she was pretty, and the team leader had a thing for her, assigning her a relatively easy position.

Cao Yang, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky. Despite being handsome, the team leader targeted him, making him scrub circuit boards.

Li Yan sat at the end of the assembly line, inspecting boards for defects and tossing out the faulty ones.

It was a relatively light job, but still sweat-inducing.

The factory was cramped and crowded; outside it was hot, and only a few rickety ceiling fans circulated barely any air.

She wiped the sweat from her fragrant brow, casting a resentful glance at Cao Yang, who was scrubbing boards ahead. In her heart, she cursed him a fool! He had an easy job but refused it, insisting on factory work. And he had to drag her along—what a big idiot!

On the third day, the supervisor came to inspect the work and took an interest in the young and beautiful Li Yan.

He told her she was skilled and experienced and could be promoted to team leader. He invited her to dinner that evening to discuss the promotion.

Li Yan saw through his intentions—it was either a proposition to sleep with her or to court her. She ignored him altogether.

Not that Li Yan was particularly noble; she simply didn’t care about being a team leader for a few hundred yuan more a month. Her ambitions lay elsewhere.

The supervisor, annoyed by being ignored yet still fantasizing about her, decided to teach her a lesson—but he didn’t want to make a scene. So he went after someone close to her.

Since she had a brother with her, he decided to put pressure on Cao Yang.

Poor Cao Yang had no idea what was going on. Usually, they worked side by side on the boards, but today he was alone.

He worked frantically because if he slowed, the whole assembly line would be affected. Everyone else worked at normal speed, but he was forced to work at double speed.

The supervisor wanted to cause trouble for him but found that Cao Yang was surprisingly fast—he finished the work of two people alone without slowing production.

But nature called. Cao Yang asked to go to the restroom, but the team leader, under the supervisor’s hint, refused.

He said if Cao Yang left, the entire line would have to stop, so he had to hold it in.

After ten minutes, Cao Yang couldn’t hold it anymore and asked again, but the team leader still refused.

Cao Yang ignored him and got up to go anyway.

The moment he left, the team leader halted the entire line.

When Cao Yang returned, the supervisor was cursing and demanding to know what happened.

The team leader blamed Cao Yang, saying his unauthorized absence caused the line to stop.

The supervisor launched into a furious tirade, yelling so loudly and angrily that spittle sprayed onto Cao Yang’s face.

While berating him, the supervisor watched Li Yan closely, hoping she would come over to plead for Cao Yang, so he could save face with her.

But Li Yan sat unmoving, even seemingly hoping he would yell harder—maybe enough to get Cao Yang fired!

“Do you even want to keep working?!”

“Screw you!” Cao Yang snapped, unable to take it anymore. He grabbed the supervisor by the neck and lifted him up like a chick.