Chapter 18: Sisters

Xu Qinghuan handed two cigarettes to the elderly gatekeeper at the lighting factory. “Uncle Tu, I’m here on behalf of Uncle Wu. He said you’re hiring workers here, so I came to register.”

Uncle Tu waved off the cigarette, refusing to take it. “Go inside, hurry up. The personnel office is on the first floor, east side. Register and then come out.”

Xu Qinghuan still placed the cigarettes into his hand, smiled slightly, and swung her long braid as she entered the factory grounds.

There weren’t many applicants—mostly people with insider information. Xu Qinghuan wasn’t early, so she registered in turn.

Among the seven or eight people, including Xu Qinghuan, there were three women.

One had a round face, the other a sharp, elongated face. The former looked kind-hearted, while the latter appeared bitter and spiteful—truly, one’s appearance reflects their heart.

“What the hell, I thought they weren’t hiring outsiders. Why’s everyone showing up, human or ghost?” The sharp-faced girl sneered, eyeing Xu Qinghuan’s shabby clothes with sleeves and pant legs rolled halfway up, patches upon patches, yet with a strikingly seductive face. No matter how you looked at it, she was hardly a comforting sight.

Xu Qinghuan pretended not to hear, dutifully wrote down her name and filled in the required information.

The woman in charge of registration was middle-aged, with a broad forehead and inverted triangle-shaped eyes. She gave the sharp-faced girl a tired glare. “Mind your own business, why care about others?” Her tone was indulgent, full of gentle affection.

So, she was a well-connected insider!

Xu Qinghuan looked up and caught the round-faced girl staring at her. She smiled faintly and asked to confirm the exam time tomorrow was after nine o’clock, then prepared to leave.

“Comrade Xu, let’s go together!” The round-faced girl stepped forward to walk shoulder to shoulder with Xu Qinghuan. “I’m Zhou Xinyan, a high school graduate. I heard this exam involves foreign languages. How’s your foreign language?”

These days, some studied English, others Russian.

In her previous life, Xu Qinghuan knew several foreign languages. Having reached her level, she often traveled abroad for academic exchanges and didn’t like relying on interpreters.

Besides, she had a strong aptitude for learning languages, and over time, she had practiced a few developed countries’ languages until they felt almost like her mother tongue.

“Not bad… I guess,” Xu Qinghuan said modestly, never one to boast.

Zhou Xinyan looked a bit disheartened. “What am I going to do? I’m terrible at foreign languages. I can manage reading somewhat, but speaking and listening? Totally no good.”

Xu Qinghuan was somewhat surprised. “Is there going to be a spoken interview?”

Zhou Xinyan, clearly with insider knowledge, shook her head. “No, but I heard this recruitment is to prepare for the Canton Fair in October. The factory’s lamps will be showcased there, and they want someone who can communicate face-to-face with foreigners and introduce the products.”

Now, she was afraid both of passing and failing.

Xu Qinghuan thought the girl was honest. After all, they were competitors. “Then just get through the written test first. If you pass, there are still three months. You can practice your speaking and listening properly then.”

“Comrade Xu, you’re so kind. Can I call you Qinghuan?” Zhou Xinyan smiled, revealing a pair of adorable little tiger teeth.

“Of course, and I’ll call you Xinyan too!” They shook hands, becoming good friends.

To be safe, Jiang Chengxu took Xu Manman to the lighting factory and first found an acquaintance to help them register. This caused them to miss Xu Qinghuan entirely, so they didn’t even know she had come to register.

Naturally, Xu Qinghuan didn’t care about them. Having successfully obtained the watch, all she needed was to retrieve the engagement documents and destroy both copies to smoothly cancel the marriage.

Before that, she went to Yong’an Department Store. Wang Juan was eagerly waiting and was overjoyed to see Xu Qinghuan. She hurried over, “Did you forget to buy anything? Need anything else?”

Xu Qinghuan pulled her aside to a quiet spot and handed over three packets of medicine wrapped in newspaper. “One packet a day, twice daily. Boil repeatedly and drink for three consecutive days. For safety, make sure to—at least twice in those three days, got it?”

Actually, once would suffice, but twice was safest. If it could be once a night, that would be perfect.

But Wang Juan’s man wasn’t a novel’s hero, so he definitely couldn’t manage that kind of stamina.

No, even Jiang Chengxu, the male lead of this story, didn’t have that capability.

Wang Juan blushed and hurriedly promised, “No problem, I’ll be careful. What do you want to buy? I’ll take you.”

“No need. You put the medicine away, I just want to buy a watch and leave.”

“Imported or domestic? It’s on the third floor, I’ll take you!” Wang Juan led the way, holding the medicine. Luckily, it was wrapped in newspaper, so no one knew what was inside.

Xu Qinghuan took the thirty yuan Wang Juan had just given her and went upstairs. She spent 125 yuan plus a watch voucher to buy a fully steel watch made in Shen City.

There were imported watches like the Plum Blossom brand and the popular Longines, but since she was going to the countryside, wearing an imported watch would only bring trouble.

After seeing Xu Qinghuan off, Wang Juan was cheerful. Her colleagues didn’t understand, “What’s got you so happy? She just bought a watch; it’s not like it’s your sales target!”

“You don’t know, and I’m not telling!”

After work yesterday, Wang Juan had calmed down and hesitated about buying Xu Qinghuan’s medicine. It wasn’t cheap—almost a month’s salary—and she worried about causing problems if her man took it unnecessarily. But if she didn’t buy it, what if Xu Qinghuan really could do it?

She sought out Tian Xia, a good friend, who didn’t hide anything. “She’s probably very skilled. I heard the hospital wanted to hire her as an attending physician. Try it. She’s not going to harm you.”

After all, Xu Qinghuan hadn’t even accepted the two-hundred-yuan red envelope Wang Juan gave her.

Her medical ethics were trustworthy.

Wang Juan felt confident and boldly bought the medicine, waiting to try it with her man tonight.

For this, she even kept the tribute her man offered last night.

Xu Qinghuan placed the new watch into her space storage, planning to wear it only when leaving. First, she went to Jixiangli on Yuzhong Road mentioned in the book.

This was a rather modest lane residence area, with single-room flats stacked two stories high. Walking inside the narrow alleys, one couldn’t see the sun overhead.

Xu Qinghuan couldn’t remember which room belonged to Fang Xinrou, Jiang’s father’s mistress. As she walked, she suddenly heard familiar voices. She quickly hid and peeked out—it was effortless to recognize.

“Brother Youliang, this is going to be difficult, isn’t it? Lianxue is still young, and it’s not easy for her to get into the factory. Being a temporary worker is already good. Don’t make things hard for me. I heard Chengxu has a fiancée who’s unemployed; if my sister found out, how upset would she be?”

Two people spoke face to face, their eyes drawn out like silk threads, their expressions as if parting forever—even cold-blooded creatures would drown in such deep affection.

Especially that word “sister”—it was hypnotic, fulfilling the man’s dream of many wives and concubines outright.