Chapter 1373: Zhang Lijuan (Fifteen)

Zhang Lijuan (Fifteen)

How can they ever stop? Deep down, I already know the answer. Only if I cry out in pain will they stop. If I wall myself off behind invisible barriers to protect myself, their attacks will only grow more intense. They don't want me to be safe and sound, and they don't want me to ignore it all. They've invested time and effort into their assault, so I have to feel the pain. The logic is straightforward, like the simplest electrical circuit. Connect the power, and the light turns on. If it doesn't, then the problem is with the light.

I kept my head down, assembling the display screen, when a worker suddenly held up a small LED lamp and winked at another worker. They deliberately raised their voices so I could hear.

"Hey! Look!"

"What's that?"

"Look at this LED lamp's head... it's pointy, like a nipple?"

The two of them chuckled for a moment, then picked up another LED lamp.

"Look, what do you call two lamps?"

"What?"

"Er nai."

I listened to their words, my face expressionless as I continued assembling the display screen. Whether it's young men or women, their vulgar taunts are far more damaging than in the previous workshop. Back there, the workers were mostly just out of their teens, and although there was plenty of insults, those words didn't truly wound my soul—they were just mindless expressions of pure malice. But now, the workshop is full of adults and middle-aged people. If they set out to hurt me with their words, how could I, at eighteen, possibly defend myself?

Yet I truly don't want to cry out in pain. Pain in this world is so strange; you can feel it even without a single scratch on your body. Even though I've never done any of those things, and the person they're inventing isn't me at all, I still feel it. But the moment I cry out, it's as if I'm admitting to all those misdeeds. This situation is just like their initial stance—if it's not about me, why would I get angry in the first place? A stranger woman's slap for no reason hurled me into endless hell. And here, there's no sign of that woman or Fang Zhuren, yet my situation remains unchanged.

...

"Zhang Fang."

I walked up to Zhang Fang and, after holding back for so long, finally said her name.

"Oh..." Zhang Fang smiled, looked up at me, and slowly stood up. The girls beside her tried to reach out and hold her back, but she stopped them.

"Isn't this... Shifu?" She adopted a victor's stance and said to me, "Shifu, what brings you here?"

"Zhang Fang, I'm not er nai." I said seriously.

She stared into my eyes, frowning slightly, then smiled and asked, "What?"

"I think it's necessary to explain this to you—Fang Zhuren's wife accused me wrongly, and Fang Zhuren was transferred because of it." I continued, "None of this has anything to do with me."

I raised my voice gradually, drawing the attention of everyone on the production line to what was happening.

"I thought you were going to say something important..." Zhang Fang shook her head. "Shifu... is this all you're here to explain? Fine, I get it. If there's nothing else, I'll get back to work."

"Not just that." I interrupted. "I need to talk this through with you. You told everyone I'm er nai, but you have no evidence, right?"

"Evidence..." Zhang Fang was caught off guard by my question, then quickly gathered her thoughts. "Wait, Shifu, then what evidence do you have to prove you're not er nai?"

"That makes it worth discussing." I replied. "Proving innocence means guilt? Then how can you prove you've never killed anyone before?"

"I..."

This might have been the first time Zhang Fang openly argued with me, and for a moment, she was at a loss for words. She probably never imagined I was this type of person. The crowd around us grew larger, and they all seemed to be waiting for the outcome of our debate. On the surface, I looked calm, but inside, I was shaking with nerves. Whether I can cure their plague once and for all might depend on this debate. The best result would be for them to recover overall, leaving only lasting side effects. The fire of conflict has been lit, and now everyone has stopped work to watch. It won't be long before word reaches the workshop director and the boss, so I need to deliver the remedy quickly.

"You... you're just twisting logic!" She recovered and said, "Killing someone is a crime—if I committed one, could I still be standing here?"

"So er nai isn't a crime, so you can accuse me of it?" I shot back sternly.

"I...!" She was speechless again, teetering on the edge of defeat.

"Zhang Lijuan... don't argue... what if the leaders find out..." One of the girls next to Zhang Fang tried to smooth things over, her voice cutting in awkwardly.

"Don't speak." I looked at her and said, "You don't know the details; it's all based on what Zhang Fang told you, so you don't know the truth. I'm asking her directly—it has nothing to do with you."

I felt like I'd gained some experience in situations like this. When you're at such a disadvantage, you can't take on everyone, so you have to focus on one target. Hearing "it has nothing to do with you," she knew she was in the wrong and quietly shut her mouth.

"According to your logic, if you haven't seen it, it didn't happen." I turned back to Zhang Fang. "You weren't in my previous workshop—you don't know anything that went on there, so why spread rumors?"

"You... you..." Zhang Fang gritted her teeth, realizing she was backed into a corner, so she shifted tactics. "You're just being evasive—if it wasn't you, why didn't you speak up when we wrote 'broken shoe' on the bulletin board? Now you're suddenly acting all bold..."

"Just like you said, writing 'broken shoe' wasn't about me, so what does it have to do with me?"

As I was about to corner Zhang Fang once more, a figure slowly emerged from the crowd. He pushed through the people and stood between me and Zhang Fang, but this time, he faced me directly and said the exact same words as before:

"What's going on...? What are you all doing...?"

Sadly, this young man's eyes had lost all their spark, like those of an elder who no longer cared about anything. The same person, the same words, but now I was on the opposite side, his enemy. He was protecting the girl he liked, just as he had last time. Seeing Man Tun blocking her way, Zhang Fang seized her chance and quickly pulled him, saying to me: "Zhang Lijuan, you just said I didn't see it with my own eyes, right? If you're so sure, ask Man Tun! He was in the same workshop as you back then—if others don't know, doesn't he?"

At that moment, everyone turned their eyes to Man Tun. In their view, this hardworking young man had always been straightforward and wouldn't lie. So... he would give the most honest answer, wouldn't he?