Chapter 305: Qin Huairu's Action

The humiliation of the cabbage incident and the helplessness of educating her children at home are like two dull knives, cutting Qin Huairu's already exhausted nerves day and night.

In the dead of night, lying on the cold kang, listening to her mother‑in‑law's heavy snores and the faint breaths of her children, she keeps her eyes open, staring at the ceiling plastered with old newspapers, feeling a chilling despair inside.

This can't go on.

She recalled the men in the Steel Rolling Mill Workshop who swarmed around her like flies on blood—Guo Dapiezhi and his pack of cronies, each with murky eyes and unabashed possessiveness.

Occasionally they would crowd up, under the pretense of helping, nudging her, making lewd jokes, or when she was most embarrassed, "generously" lending her a few coins, their gaze measuring her like a piece of merchandise.

One coin, two coins… Qin Huairu's mouth twitched with a bitter curve. This money is like a pebble tossed into a bottomless pit—no sound at all—only to be immediately swallowed by endless household expenses: buying grain, coal, paying tuition… it cannot change any situation.

What she must pay is a forced smile, vague hints, and enduring those nauseating touches and gazes, earning from the other female workers in the Workshop a whispered reputation of a "broken shoe".

The price is too high, the gain too meager—truly a losing bargain!

She needs a real patron who can change the situation, someone who can pull her out of this quagmire and at least let her and her children catch a breath.

The crooked, rotten men in the Workshop are clearly out of consideration. They live like eels in a gutter—what could they give her?

Her thoughts involuntarily drifted to those in the factory who wield real power. The first that flashed through her mind was Xi Kua Yuan's Li Ping'an.

The Director of the Security Section, steady and upright, a good husband and father at home, reputedly very capable, even the factory leaders treat him politely. Yet… Qin Huairu instantly dismissed this option in her mind.

Li Ping'an's eyes are too clear, as if they can see through the deepest scheming of the heart. His care for his wife Lin Xueqing is evident to the whole institute. To provoke him? It would likely bring disgrace, even the meager occasional assistance for her current headaches and footaches could be cut off.

Then there is only one choice left—Li Huaide, Deputy Factory Director.

When that name sprang up, Qin Huairu's heart jolted, then oddly steadied. Li Huaide, in charge of logistics and part of personnel, is in fact a real power holder in the factory.

The gossip about him, Qin Huairu heard plenty of whispered talk from female workers in the Workshop restroom and water room: lecherous, unclean hands, likes to take advantage of female workers, … but does give real benefits.

It is said that the few female workers who got "close" to him were either transferred to easy, clean posts, or their husbands received promotions; even the worst off could often obtain some scarce supplies.

The risk is great, but… the reward could be high.

Qin Huairu rapidly calculated in her mind, like a bankrupt gambler weighing the final bet. Aligning with Li Huaide would surely ruin her reputation; if anything happened, even a speck of spit could drown her.

But what if it works out? She could ask Li Huaide to give her a different job, no longer toiling to death in the Workshop, dust covering her face.

Even if it's just a transfer to the storehouse, or a miscellaneous job at the union, with lighter work she would have more energy to care for her children, perhaps… perhaps she could even straighten Bang Geng's twisted temperament a bit?

The thought, like a tempting will‑o‑the‑wisp in the darkness, flickered in her desperate heart. For the children, to stay alive, to live a little like a human… she repeatedly used this reason to persuade herself, trying to suppress the lingering shame and fear deep inside.

She recalled Li Huaide's gaze at her. Unlike the raw, eager eyes of the men in the Workshop, Li Huaide's look was more an assessment and scrutiny, bearing the superiority of one in power and a cat‑playing‑mouse kind of amusement.

When he occasionally met her in the plant, he would stop, seemingly casually asking a few questions about work and life, but that gaze seemed to have already seen through her inside and out.

He knows my situation; he's waiting… waiting for me to speak up?

Qin Huairu shivered, daring not to think further. She knew this was a divergent path; stepping onto it could lead to endless ruin.

But looking back at the suffocating family quagmire behind her, at her son's increasingly crooked trajectory, she seemed… to have no other way.

That day in the factory, she deliberately took a detour past the Administrative Building. Sure enough, around a corner she "accidentally" met Li Huaide about to leave.

"Li." Qin Huairu lowered her lashes, her voice a few shades softer than usual, carrying a barely perceptible timidity and dependence.

Li Huaide stopped, his gaze sweeping over her slightly flushed cheek from the hurry and the old yet curvaceous work uniform, a meaning‑laden smile appearing on his face: "Comrade Qin Huairu, in such a hurry—something wrong?"

"No… nothing major," Qin Huairu lifted her head, glanced at him quickly, then dropped her gaze again, fingers anxiously twisting her hem, "I just… just wanted to thank the leadership for the concern."

Her words were rambling, yet they conveyed a signal just right.

Li Huaide's smile deepened, he leaned forward slightly, his voice lowered, carrying a mix of tobacco and hair‑oil scent: "No need for courtesy, we're comrades. If you have any life difficulties, you can come to me anytime to report them." His gaze lingered a moment at the hollow of her neck.

Qin Huairu's heartbeat suddenly raced, her face flushed hot—shame and a resolute, all‑or‑nothing determination. She didn't dodge, merely answering in a softer voice, "Um… thank you, Li."

She said no more, and like a startled fawn, hurriedly bowed her head and left. Yet she knew the seed had been planted. An Old Fox like Li Huaide could not fail to understand her hint.

Walking back toward the Workshop, the icy wind brushed her face but could not disperse the heat and turmoil in her heart. She knew she was heading toward a dangerous abyss; beneath her feet lay either a stairway to a slightly better life or a cliff of ruin and disgrace.

As long as she could get a lighter job, as long as the children could live a little better… she clenched her fists, using this thought to support her nearly collapsing body.

The Workshop's machines roared again, surrounding her, and Guo Dapiezhi's repulsive grin closed in, spouting incoherent nonsense. Qin Huairu looked at him, and for the first time felt a clear contempt.

"You worthless trash, you can't give me what I want."

Her gaze, over the noisy Workshop, fell toward the Administrative Building, where lay the "hope" she was betting everything on for an unknown future.

And this hope, wrapped in what kind of sugar coating and shells, she now lacked the strength to discern. The crushing weight of life finally pushed this weary woman onto a thorny, perilous divergent path.