Chapter 60: Shazhu's Final Illusion Completely Shattered

The all-factory employee assembly turned into a public trial and denunciation of Qin Huairu.

When she was dragged off the stage like a dead dog, she had achieved "social death" both within the factory and throughout the entire courtyard.

The news spread like wildfire. Before the end of the workday, it had already permeated every corner of the factory grounds, only to be brought back to the quadrangle by the returning workers.

The entire multi-household compound erupted in a frenzy.

"Have you heard? Qin Huairu was arrested!"

"Arrested? She was publicly denounced at the full-factory assembly! Oh my god, that spectacle was just like the struggle sessions against the landlords!"

"What did she do to warrant such a massive uproar?"

"You still don't know? She fabricated rumors about Dr. Chen and Nurse Lin, and even tried to frame them. As a result, the factory director and the security division caught her red-handed with undeniable evidence!"

"Oh my goodness! This woman is so vicious! Dr. Chen is the absolute treasure of our factory, and she dared to target him?"

"You said it! The factory director has already handed down his verdict: she's been transferred to the boiler room to clean out the toilets! Her life is effectively over."

The residents of the courtyard gathered in groups of threes and fives, chattering and whispering amongst themselves.

Their words no longer held a single ounce of the sympathy they once showed Qin Huairu; instead, they were dripping with utter contempt and schadenfreude.

Yi Zhonghai sat inside his own room, listening to the scandalous gossip drifting in from outside, the teacup in his hand trembling slightly.

A lingering fear gripped his heart.

Fortunately, thank goodness he hadn't actually allowed himself to be used as a pawn by Qin Huairu to go head-to-head with Chen Mo.

Otherwise, the one being publicly denounced at the factory assembly today and sent off to scrub toilets would very well have been him, Yi Zhonghai!

He glanced sideways at the First Aunt, whose face was equally drained of color, and said with lingering terror: "From now on, stay far away from the Jia family. Their household is nothing but a giant cesspool—whoever touches them is doomed."

The First Aunt nodded repeatedly, too terrified to utter a single word.

***

Silly Zhu walked home in a daze, his soul seemingly detached from his body.

Echoing endlessly in his mind were every single word uttered by Factory Director Yang during the assembly, as well as every morsel of discussion among his surrounding colleagues.

Those words acted like sharp awls, striking blow after blow, shattering the very last vestiges of hope and fantasy left in his heart.

He had always believed that Qin Huairu was merely driven by the hardships of life, that she was just weak, and that she loved her children too dearly.

In his heart, he had even manufactured countless excuses for her.

She went to find Xu Damao because Banggen's illness couldn't wait.

She used him because, as a widow, she truly had no other choice.

But now, he knew the truth.

Not at all!

She wasn't weak; she was vicious!

She wasn't helpless; she was utterly vile!

She could cast aside all moral boundaries for her own selfish desires and her sordid little schemes, destroying the lifetime of an innocent girl who had done her no wrong!

Is this something a normal human being could do?

Is this something a woman he had adored for over a decade, cradling in the palm of his hand like a celestial maiden, could ever do?

Silly Zhu felt as though his entire worldview had been thoroughly overturned today.

He stumbled into the courtyard in a drunken stupor, his eyes immediately falling upon Qin Jingru, who was standing in the middle of the yard like a wooden sculpture carved from mud.

Qin Jingru had also heard about the incident at the factory, and her mind was completely blank.

She could not comprehend how, overnight, the omnipotent and resourceful cousin she idolized had transformed into a universally reviled "venomous woman."

Seeing Silly Zhu return, she instinctively wanted to rush forward to greet him.

"Brother Zhu..."

"Get lost."

Silly Zhu didn't even look at her, squeezing out a single, freezing word from between his teeth.

Qin Jingru's footsteps froze instantly in place.

Looking at Silly Zhu's expressionless face, which was more terrifying than ever before, she shivered violently, spun around, and fled back into the Jia family's house, slamming the door shut with a heavy thud.

Silly Zhu did not return to his own room.

He walked over to the water tap, twisted the valve, and poured the freezing tap water over his face, over and over again.

He wanted to sober up.

He wanted to completely scour away the phantom of that woman from his mind.

He had no idea how much time had passed before he finally turned off the tap and lifted his dripping, water-beaded face.

His gaze had become hollow yet serene.

It was the serenity of a heart dying a thousand deaths, a grief beyond despair.

Just at that moment, a figure materialized before him.

It was Qin Huairu.

He had no idea when she had returned.

She had changed into a filthy, tattered work uniform caked in coal dust. Her disheveled hair clung to her sallow, waxen face, and her entire body emitted an unpleasant, suffocating odor blending slag and toilet sewage.

She no longer possessed a single trace of her former prettiness or pitiable charm.

Right now, she was nothing more than a thoroughly foul, stinking, bottom-rung laborer.

She stared at Silly Zhu, her once watery eyes filled with utter despair and a final, shred of supplication.

She had believed that even if the entire world abandoned her, Silly Zhu—the man who had loved her for over a decade—would surely remain her ultimate refuge.

"Zhu..."

Her voice was as hoarse as sandpaper grinding against wood.

She reached out a dirt-caked hand toward Silly Zhu, as if desperately trying to grasp hold of him.

Silly Zhu looked at her, looking at the woman he had once dreamt of day and night.

Looking at her current wretched state.

He felt no anger, no roaring rage, not even the slightest ripple of emotional fluctuation.

He merely watched her quietly, as though gazing at a stranger—a filthy stranger who had nothing whatsoever to do with him.

Then, slowly, he took a step back.

Widening the chasm between them.

"Don't come closer."

His voice was not loud, yet it felt like the sharpest blade, instantly piercing through Qin Huairu's final line of psychological defense.

"You make me feel... sick."

With those words, Silly Zhu turned around and walked straight into his room, never once looking back.

"Bang!"

The door slammed shut once more.

And this time, what closed wasn't merely a wooden door.

It was every bit of love, illusion, and the very last shred of affection Silly Zhu had harbored for her over the past ten years.

Qin Huairu's outstretched hand froze mid-air.

She stared at the tightly bolted door, her ears ringing with that ice-cold, utterly merciless word: "sick."

Her entire body began to violently convulse.

Then, slowly, agonizingly, she squatted down.

She buried her face deeply between her knees.

A stifled, bone-chilling wail—one of utmost agony, sounding almost like the weeping of a ghost—tore its way out from the depths of her throat.

"Ah—!"

The man she once treated like a god, the man she had manipulated in the palm of her hand, now looked upon her as mere dirt.

She, Qin Huairu, no longer had a single soul to rely on in this world.

Her sky had completely, utterly collapsed.