Chapter 37: Fighting Back
Lin Wan reciprocated with equal enthusiasm, shaking hands with them one by one.
Xu Hui watched, her eyes burning with pure envy and resentment. She had explicitly broadcasted Lin Wan’s true identity to everyone—a dependent dragalong brought by a widow, from a single-income, blended family of remarried spouses. Did these people have holes in their brains? Why were they still running over to flatter her!
What infuriated her even more was that Wu Xue had also gone over to greet Lin Wan, and as for the men, the eyes of every single one of them lit up whenever they looked at Lin Wan.
That dead vixen!
The moment she thought about what had happened in the alley that day, Xu Hui felt exceptionally miserable. It felt as though some highly important matter of hers had been completely ruined by Lin Wan.
“Lin Wan, I heard you tried to snatch your step-sister’s partner but failed, so you egged on your stepfather to kick her out of the house. Is that story true?” Xu Hui threw out a highly sarcastic remark.
Everyone turned to look at Lin Wan in shock. Several of the female comrades subtly distanced themselves from her, the gazes inspecting her turning thoroughly derisive.
Lin Wan didn’t panic in the slightest. Instead, she crossed her arms, locked eyes with Xu Hui, and said with a beaming smile, “Xu Hui, you are an adult! You need to be responsible for the words that spill out of your mouth!”
“This is slander!”
“I can report this to the police!”
Xu Hui’s eyes gleamed with provocation, and she laughed arrogantly. “I said ‘I heard.’ I am seeking confirmation from you, which is far from slander. Why are you getting all defensive!”
“Could it be that I hit the nail on the head?”
Heh~ Lin Wan couldn’t possibly squirm her way out of this! Once her reputation turned completely foul, let’s see who would still pay attention to her! Keep acting! Let’s see how long she could keep up the act!
The moment Xu Hui’s words fell, the crowd’s gazes toward Lin Wan grew even more derisive.
Yet Lin Wan replied in a perfectly unhurried manner, “Xu Hui, I heard you were engaged in hooliganism with the notorious thug Luo Yong in the Yanshi alleyway. Is that story true?”
“I heard your dad has an affair with your maternal aunt. Is that story true?”
“I heard you aren’t even your dad’s biological child. Is that true?”
“I heard you…”
Xu Hui’s face shifted abruptly. She lunged forward, swinging her hand to strike Lin Wan. “Shut up!”
“This is slander!”
Lin Wan caught her wrist in a tight grip, letting out a cold sneer. “I said ‘I heard.’ I am seeking confirmation from you, which is far from slander. Why are you getting all defensive!”
“Could it be that I hit the nail on the head?”
She returned Xu Hui’s exact words to her, completely intact.
Xu Hui’s eyes practically bulged out with rage, and a mouthful of blood surged furiously up her throat.
Lin Wan continued to tease her mockingly, “Your reaction is so intense. Could it be that I actually hit the nail on the head and you’re reacting out of pure humiliation and rage?”
Xu Hui completely broke down. “Ahhh!”
She frantically tried to claw and scratch at Lin Wan, but someone wrapped their arms around her waist to hold her back, and she even accidentally injured the person restraining her.
“Lin Wan, you absolute bitch!”
Lin Wan: “Comrade Xu Hui, I must criticize you for this. On the very first day of reporting for work, you fail to unite with your revolutionary comrades. Your ideological awareness is severely lacking!”
With that, she waved her hand in absolute disgust. “Comrade Xu Hui, the way you look right now is truly… highly low-class.”
“Ugly!”
“Utterly undignified!”
“Lacking the slightest composure of the working class!”
Talk about destroying someone’s psychological defenses. It was exactly this.
Driven entirely insane by her words, Xu Hui covered her face and wailed loudly.
Lin Wan remarked to the system in her mind with a trace of regret, “System, the female lead of this generation is truly no good!”
“Far too weak!”
Thoroughly untaloted yet loved to court trouble, and couldn’t even afford to play out the consequences!
The system maintained its frozen expression: It’s not that she’s no good.
It’s that you don’t walk a normal path.
You don’t play by the rules at all!
Other people throw out a problem and wait for you to prove your innocence, yet you don’t care about innocence at all, pulling out a dagger to slaughter them directly. The past few hosts were all love-brains, but the current one had suddenly transformed into a shameless, shrewd host, leaving the system completely unable to adjust for the time being.
“Xu Hui, stop crying quickly.”
“Section Chief Tang is here!”
Xu Hui didn’t want to stay in this place for another second, but she couldn’t leave. She was terrified that if she left, Lin Wan would snatch her position. Her third uncle had gone to find a solution, so she had to endure it. This bitch Lin Wan simply wanted to provoke her into storming off, and she would absolutely never fall into the trap and let the bitch gloat!
Xu Hui gave Lin Wan a ferocious glare. Just you wait and see!
Lin Wan rolled her eyes.
Luo Jiahui tugged at her clothes, the intense admiration in her eyes completely impossible to conceal. She whispered to Lin Wan, “Comrade Lin Wan, you must be careful around her.”
“She is bound to trip you up!”
“Her third uncle is Director Xu of the main office.”
Ahhh! Comrade Lin Wan is simply too dashing! How could she be this incredibly capable, making Xu Hui suffer a loss at her hands one after another!
Luo Jiahui and Xu Hui had been classmates in the same class since the kindergarten Red Cradle class. Xu Hui loved forming exclusive cliques, looked down on classmates from ordinary working-class families, and was incredibly petty. She had personally suffered losses at Xu Hui’s hands several times. Furthermore, Xu Hui loved employing the “I heard” tactic the most—if you could clear your name, she would claim she was only looking out for you out of a good heart; if you couldn’t clear your name, you would face the pointing fingers of the entire class, or even the entire school.
Today, Comrade Lin Wan had thoroughly dealt with her! How satisfying! It was exceptionally cathartic!
Lin Wan puffed out her chest and held her head high. “I’m not afraid!”
“As long as I perform my own job duties properly, she won’t be able to touch me!”
“Tripping me up and giving me a rough time is completely useless. As long as I’m not dismissed, I can continue to shine and contribute at my post!”
“No matter how difficult it gets, can it possibly outdo the hardships of being sent down to the countryside?”
Luo Jiahui nodded vigorously. Comrade Lin Wan was absolutely right! Whimper whimper, I admire Comrade Lin Wan even more now!
The gaze Wu Xue directed toward Lin Wan also underwent a distinct shift. This female comrade was truly remarkable! She instinctively felt that Xu Hui was deliberately picking a fight. There was no way Lin Wan would ever commit such deeds. Xu Hui was likely trying to smear her precisely because Lin Wan had snatched her slot for the main office position!
“Cough cough~”
Section Chief Tang walked inside. He cleared his throat twice first.
The meeting room instantly fell into absolute silence. He walked up to the head position, saying to the crowd with a beaming smile:
“Comrades! Originally, the factory intended for our Personnel Section to arrange your specific job placements. However, after taking everything into consideration, I feel we ought to grant you a portion of the right to choose autonomously!”
“There are ten vacancies, so go ahead and raise your hands to state where you would like to go.”
“For positions selected by multiple candidates, the Personnel Section will conduct an interview assessment, and the outstanding winner will take the post, while the displaced comrades will be assigned by the Personnel Section!”
“Of course, you must take your own individual circumstances into account. Raise your hands to apply for what you are personally skilled at.”
“The main office positions require a high school graduation certificate!”
“…Comrades, our nation is currently awaiting a full overhaul. The more arduous the conditions, the more it requires young comrades like you to fight for it!”
“Every single post is waiting for you to blow the horn to charge!”
As he raised a single hand to clench it into a firm fist, the crowd below broke into a flurry of buzzing discussions.
Choosing for themselves? Let’s not think about the two positions in the main office; those were strictly locked in through internal arrangements. The other four positions in the bureau could, however, be contested. But it couldn’t be ruled out that those four positions were locked in through internal arrangements as well. Still, it didn’t matter; getting in was a bonus, and failing just meant going down to a branch office anyway.
Consequently, people began to raise their hands one after another: “Section Chief Tang, I choose the sorter post!”
“Section Chief Tang, I choose the switchboard operator post!”
“I choose the line maintenance technician post.”
Section Chief Tang nodded along, instructing Big Sister Gao to record the names. While Big Sister Gao was busy taking notes, she simultaneously made subtle expressions toward Lin Wan.
Lin Wan raised her hand, “Section Chief Tang…”
Xu Hui quickly cut in right ahead of her, saying, “Section Chief Tang, I choose the union officer post. I served as the class monitor continuously from primary school all the way until high school graduation, so I possess highly robust organizational capabilities…”
Big Sister Gao’s hand froze, and she turned her head to look toward Section Chief Tang.
Xu Hui let out a cold sneer. Section Chief Tang pulling off a performance like this—wasn’t it precisely to support Lin Wan? She simply wouldn’t let them have their way. Her third uncle was truly useless, unable to even handle Section Chief Tang! Thank goodness she had made preparatory arrangements in advance. Otherwise, if she had solely relied on her third uncle, the opportunity would have long turned cold!
Xu Hui cast a glance out the window. Bureau Chief Zhao had arrived. He came at the perfect moment! She certainly wanted to see how Section Chief Tang would continue to pull tricks right in front of Bureau Chief Zhao!
